GIFT  OF 


HISTORY 


OF 


THE    RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL. 


THE  HISTORY 


OF 


THE  RELIGION  OF  ISRAEL: 


<OJti  ^Testament  primer* 


BT 


CRAWFORD    H.    TOY, 

PROFESSOR     OF     HEBREW     LANGUAGE     AND     LITERATURE     IN 
HARVARD     UNIVERSITY. 


VH'IP  T  E&NTII    EDIT  1  (JN . 


BOSTON: 

UOTTARIAN    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    SOCIETY, 

25  BEACON  STREET. 

1900. 


Copyright, 
BY  UNITARIAN  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 


UNIVERSITY  PRESS  : 
JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


rf 
(I 


PREFACE. 


IT  has  been  thought  best  to  present  the  whole  History  of 
Israel  in  one  course  of  lessons.  This  could  not  be  done  with- 
out great  compression  of  the  matter;  but  it  is  hoped  that  the 
Primer  in  this  shape  will  not  be  beyond  the  grasp  of  children 
of  twelve  years  and  upwards. 

Where  the  condensation  is  so  great,  much  is  necessarily  left 
to  the  knowledge  and  discretion  of  the  teacher.  He  must 
treat  the  various  subjects  as  he  thinks  best  for  his  class, 
—  abridging  here,  and  expanding  there;  dividing  one  lesson 
into  two,  or  throwing  two  into  one ;  omitting  one  or  more 
lessons,  if  he  thinks  fit,  and  substituting  for  them  other  mat- 
ter. He  must  freely  discuss  the  opinions  expressed  in  the 
Primer,  dissenting  from  and  modifying  them  according  to 
his  best  judgment. 

One  or  two  suggestions  may  be  made  as  to  the  conduct  of 
the  lessons.  It  is  very  desirable  that  the  teacher  should 
bring  himself  into  hearty  sympathy  with  the  period  studied, 
so  as  to  give  his  pupils  a  vivid  picture  of  its  outward  circum- 
stances and  its  thought.  The  cultivation  of  the  historical 
sense  will  be  worth  more  than  the  acquisition  of  facts.  To 
aid  him  in  this  task  a  short  list  of  books  of  reference  is  ap- 
pended to  each  lesson.  Only  such  books  are  mentioned  as 
it  is  believed  will  be  useful  to  Sunday-school  instructors. 
Every  Sunday-school  should  have  a  reference  library.  (See 
the  List  of  Books  on  page  xi ;  also  Catalogue  of  Books 
recommended  by  the  Ladies'  Commission,  Boston,  1871.) 


292074 


iv  PREFACE. 

Maps  and  charts  should  be  freely  used.  Each  class  ought 
to  have  its  own  apparatus  of  these  necessary  helps  to  histori- 
cal study. 

Words  strange  to  children  should  be  carefully  explained. 
Occasionally  it  may  be  well  to  spend  the  whole  time  of  the 
lesson  in  fixing  in  the  pupil's  mind  the  signification  of  a  sin- 
gle term ;  for  example,  "  monotheism."  When  he  has  once 
really  acquired  this,  it  will  save  him  from  many  misconcep- 
tions, and  make  all  his  succeeding  reading  easier. 

The  scholars  must  be  encouraged  to  read  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, not  as  a  lesson,  but  for  its  own  sake ;  and  each  one 
should  be  provided  with,  and  should  bring  regularly  to  the 
class,  a  copy  of  the  Bible.  The  Apocrypha,  also,  should  be 
accessible.  The  teacher  may  suggest  a  chapter  in  one  of 
the  historical  books,  or  the  prophets,  or  elsewhere,  and  try 
to  awaken  a  lively  interest  in  it.  If  possible,  he  should 
talk  with  the  scholars  on  such  passages  outside  of  the 
school -room. 

It  is  suggested  that  the  Introductory  Lesson  be  gone  over 
rapidly  at  the  beginning  of  the  course,  and  then  more  care- 
fully at  its  close.  But  this,  as  well  as  quarterly  and  other 
reviews,  must  be  left  to  the  teacher's  judgment,  or  the  de- 
cision of  the  school.  The  writer  of  these  lessons,  feeling 
strongly  their  meagreness,  will  be  very  glad  to  give  such  aid 
as  he  can  to  those  teachers  who  may  think  it  worth  their 
while  to  apply  to  him. 


CONTENTS. 


PREFACE ^  iii 

CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE * ix 

BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE xi 

INTRODUCTORY  LESSON 1 

LESSON  I. — The  Beginnings  of  Hebrew  History.  The 
Races  of  the  Earth.  The  Migrations  of  the  Semites.  The 
Nomadic  Life  of  the  Hebrews  in  Canaan.  The  Earliest 
Form  of  the  Religion  of  Israel  in  Canaan.  Their  Wor- 
ship. Their  Language  .  .' 9 

LESSON  II.  —  The  Israelites  in  Egypt.  The  Greatness  of  the 
Egyptians.  The  Fertility  of  Egypt  —  Dependence  of  the 
Desert  Tribes  on  it.  The  Israelites  in  Goshen.  How  the  Is- 
raelites lived  in  Goshen.  The  Israelites  forced  into  Hard 
Labor  by  the  Egyptians 13 

LESSON  III.  —  The  Exodus  and  Moses.  Bible  Account  of 
Moses  and  the  Exodus.  The  Exodus  and  the  March  to 
Canaan.  The  Traditional  Account  of  the  Origin  of  the 
Law  of  Israel.  What  the  Early  Prophets  said  of  Moses  — 
Whether  he  borrowed  anything  from  the  Egyptians.  Israel- 
itish  Customs  before  Moses  . 18 

LESSON  IV.  —  Moses  and  Yahwe  (Jehovah).  Yahwe,  the 
God  of  Israel  —  His  Original  Character.  Whether  Moses 
Introduced  the  Worship  of  Yahwe  —  Whether  he  was  a 
Monotheist.  Is  the  Decalogue  Monotheistic  ?  Moses*  Work 
Uncertain.  What  Moses  probably  did 23 


VI  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

LESSON  V. —  The  Conquest  and  the  Judges.  The  March 
from  Goshen  to  Canaan.  The  Book  of  Joshua.  The  Time 
of  the  Judges.  The  Book  of  Judges.  The  Principal 
Judges.  Civil  and  Religious  Character  of  this  Period  .  .  27 

LESSON  VI.  —  Samuel  and  Saul.  The  Situation  in  the  Time 
of  Eli.  Samuel's  Life  and  Work.  The  Life  of  Saul.  The 
First  Book  of  Samuel 32 

LESSON  VII.  —  David  and  Solomon.  Legends  of  Great 
Men.  David  as  King  and  Man.  David  as  Religious  Man 
and  Poet.  Solomon  as  King  and  Sage.  Solomon's  Temple. 
The  Books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles.  The  Chronology  .  .  36 

LESSON  VIII.  —  Worship  of  the  Calf  and  of  Baal.  The  Di- 
vision of  the  Kingdom.  The  Dynasties  of  Jeroboam  and 
Omri.  Calf-  Worship  and  Baal-Worship.  Elijah  and  Elisha. 
Political  and  Religious  History  of  Judah 42 

LESSON  IX.  —The  Fall  of  the  Baal-Worship.  The  Contrast 
between  the  Worships  of  Israel  and  Canaan.  Elijah  and 
Elisha  determine  to  root  out  Baalism.  Jehu's  Reform.  The 
Dynasty  of  Jehu.  Political  History  of  Judah.  Religion 
in  Judah 47 

LESSON  X.  —  The  Prophets  Amos  and  Hosea.  Develop- 
ment of  Israelitish  Literature.  The  Different  Sorts  of 
Prophets  and  their  Writings.  Amos.  Hosea.  The  Influ- 
ence of  Amos  and  Hosea 51 

LESSON  XL  — The  Fall  of  Israel.  Ahaz  and  Hezekiah 
in  Judah.  The  Fall  of  the  Northern  Kingdom.  The  Fate 
of  the  Israelites.  Political  History  of  Judah  under  Ahaz 
and  Hezekiah.  Religious  History  of  Judah 56 

LESSON  XII.  —  The  Prophets  Micah  and  Isaiah.  The  Groups 
of  Prophets.  The  Times  of  Micah  and  Isaiah.  Micah. 
The  Life  of  Isaiah.  Isaiah's  Prophecies.  Isaiah's  Hope  of 
the  Future 60 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

PAGE 

LESSON  XIII.  —  The  Reform  of  Josiah.  Partial  Character 
of  Hezekiah's  Reform.  The  Reaction  under  Manasseh. 
Progress  of  the  Yahwe  Party.  The  Book  of  Deuteronomy. 
Reform  under  Josiah 65 

LESSON  XIV.  —  Jeremiah  and  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem.  The 
Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Chaldeans.  Nahum,  Zephan- 
iah,  and  Habakkuk.  Jeremiah's  Life.  His  Faith  and 
Teaching.  His  Book 69 

LESSON  XV. — The  Exile.     The  Carrying  Away  of  the  Jews  ' 
to  Babylon.     The  Results  of  the  Exile.     Historical  Books 
written  at  this  Time.     Obadiah  and  Lamentations    ....       74 

LESSON  XVI.  —  The  Prophets  of  the  Exile.     Condition  of  the 

Exiles.  Ezekiel.    The  Second  Isaiah.   Other  Exilian  Writings       79 

LESSON  XVII.  —  History  and  Prophetic  Writings  up  to  the 
Time  of  the  Maccabees.  Character  of  the  Period.  The 
Return  from  Exile.  The  Building  of  the  Temple.  Haggai 
and  Zechariah.  The  History  up  to  the  Maccabees.  Joel, 
Zechariah  II.,  Zechariah  III.,  Malachi 83 

LESSON  XVIII.  —  Ezra's  Reform,  and  the  Pentateuch. 
Progress  of  Legal  and  Priestly  Ideas.  What  Ezra  did. 
Formation  of  the  Pentateuch.  Character  of  the  Pentateuch  89 

LESSON  XIX.  —  Literature  of  the  Ezra  Period.  The  Period 
of  Ezra.  The  Book  of  Chronicles.  The  Books  of  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah.  The  Book  of  Jonah.  The  Book  of  Esther. 
The  Book  of  Job 93 

LESSON  XX.  —  The  Hasmoneans.  The  Struggle  for  Free- 
dom. Antiochus  Epiphanes.  The  Two  Jewish  Parties. 
The  War  of  Freedom.  The  Hasmonean  Dynasty.  The 
Three  Sects  or  Parties 99 

LESSON  XXI.  —  Later  Literature,  x.  Ritual  and  Didactic. 
The  Classes  of  the  Literature.  Psalms.  Proverbs.  Eccle- 
siasticus  ;  or,  the  Wisdom  of  the  Son  of  Sirach.  The  Wis- 
dom of  Solomon.  Ecclesiastes ;  or,  the  Preacher.  The 
Song  of  Songs 103 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

PAQE 

LESSON  XXII.  Later  Literature.  2.  Apocalyptic.  3.  Philo- 
sophical and  Historical.  Character  of  the  Apocalyptic 
Literature.  Daniel.  The  Sibyl.  Enoch.  Ezra.  Other 
Works 108 

LESSON  XXIII.  —  The  Canon.  Definition  of  "  Canon."  The 
Time  before  Ezra.  The  Pentateuch.  The  Prophetical 
Books.  The  Hagiographa.  The  Alexandrian  Canon.  The 
Samaritan  Canon 113 

LESSON  XXIV.  —  The  Scribes.  The  Study  of  the  Law.  For- 
mation of  the  Class  of  Scribes.  Schools  and  Teachers. 
The  Sanhedrin.  Method  and  Influence  of  the  Scribes  .  .  118 

LESSON  XXV.  —  The  Fall  of  Jerusalem.  The  Herod  Family. 
The  Roman  Procurators.  The  Uprising  and  Fall.  Change 
of  Language.  Christianity 123 

LESSON  XXVI.  — The  Talmud.  The  Later  Judaism.  The 
Mishna.  The  Gemara.  Contents  of  the  Talmud.  Other 
Literature 128 

LESSON  XXVII.  — The  Remaining  Literature.  Philo  and 
Josephus.  Bible  Translations.  The  Masora.  Grammars 
and  Dictionaries.  Expository  and  Philosophical  Works. 
Cabbala.  The  Karaites.  Poetry 132 

LESSON  XXVIII.  —  Outward  History  from  the  Fall  of  Je- 
rusalem. Proselyting.  History  in  Palestine.  In  Baby  Ionia. 
In  Europe.  Messianic  Expectations 138 

LESSON  XXIX.  —  The  Reform.  Intellectual  Isolation  of  the 
Jews.  Progress.  Moses  Mendelssohn.  Progress  since  Men- 
delssohn. The  Present  Condition  of  the  Reform.  The  Or- 
thodox   143 

LESSON  XXX.  —  Conclusion.  The  Persistence  of  the  Re- 
ligion of  Israel.  Its  Character  and  Growth.  Its  Legacy 
to  us  ,  147 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


B.C. 

HISTORY. 

LITERATURE. 

2000. 

Migration  of  Hebrews  from  Meso- 

Egyptian Book  of  the  Dead. 

potamia. 

1800. 

First   abode   of    the   Hebrews   in 

1600. 

EgypJ. 
Settlement    of    the    Israelites    in 

1330. 

Egypt. 
Exodus  under  Moses.                [ites. 

1300. 

Conquest  of  Canaan  by  the  Israel- 

Folk-poetry  in  Israel. 

1080. 

Samuel. 

1060. 

Accession  of  Saul. 

1040. 

Accession  of  David. 

Beginning   of    written   records   in 
Israel.    Lyrical  pieces. 

1000. 

Accession  of  Solomon. 

Beginning    of    Israelitish    gnomic 

literature. 

960. 

Division  of  the  kingdom.    'Acces- 

sion of  Jeroboam  of  Israel  and 

Rehoboam  of  Judah. 

[cal  writing. 

942. 

Accession  of  Asa  of  Judah. 

First  attempts  at  connected  histori- 

915. 

Accession  of  Omri  of  Israel. 

903. 

Accession  of  Ahab  of  Israel. 

901. 

Accession  of  Jehoshaphat  of  Judah. 

900. 

Elijah  begins  his  prophetic  work. 

842. 

Overthrow  of  the  Omri  dynasty  by 

First  written  collections  of  laws. 

Jehu.      Prophet   Elisha   active. 

Athaliah  usurps   the   throne    of 

Judah. 

785. 
726. 
720. 

Accession  of  Jeroboam  II.  of  Israel. 
Accession  of  Hezekiah  of  Judah. 
Fall  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel. 

Prophets  Amos  and  Hosea. 
Prophets  Isaiah  and  Micah. 

697. 
650. 

Accession  of  Manasseh. 

Various  lyrical  religious  pieces. 
Prophet  Nahum. 

639. 

Accession  of  Josiah. 

623. 

Deuteronomy,  Zephaniah. 

609. 

Battle  of  Megiddo  and  death  of 

Josiah. 

606. 

Habakkuk. 

597. 

Deportation  of  Jews  to  Babylon. 

Jeremiah.    626-580.     Ezekiel.    593- 

570. 

586. 

Fall  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah. 

580. 

Obadiah.    Lamentations.    Psalms. 

560. 

Judges,  Ruth,  Samuel,  and  Kings. 

540. 

The  Second  Isaiah. 

539. 

Capture  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus. 

536. 

Return  of  the  Jews  to  Canaan. 

521. 

Haggai,  Zech.  i.-viii. 

515. 

457. 

Completion  of  the  second  temple. 
First  visit  of  Ezra  to  Jerusalem. 

CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


B.C. 

HISTORY. 

LITERATURE. 

444. 

Nehemiali  governor  of  Jndea.  Ezra 

and     Neheiiii;ih     introduce    the 

nearly  completed  Law. 

420. 

Malach  i. 

400. 

The  Pentateuch  receives  its  final 

form. 

300. 

dm.  nirleg,  Zech.  ix.-xiv.,  Joel. 

275. 

i!>r>. 

Onias  III   hiirh-priest. 

Septuagint  begun. 
Esther 

170. 

Antiorhus  Kj.ij.hanes  profanes  the 

t(in  pie  of  Jerusalem. 

167. 

Kevolt  of  the  Jews. 

!•;«. 

Ju<l:is  Mar.-aketis  jiiirifl  os  the  tem- 

Daniel 

ple.    Institution  of  the  Feast  of 

Dedication. 

150. 

130. 

100. 

John  Hyrcanus  I.  destroys  the  Sa- 
maritan temple  on  Mt.  Gerizim. 

Psalms  and  Proverb*  completed. 
Eccles.    Song   of   Songs.      Son   of 
Slrach.    Ecclus.    I.  Maccabees. 
Close  of  the  Canon.     Bepfaagfait 

63. 

Pompev  takes  Jerusalem, 

[completed. 

40. 

Herod  king  of  Judf.-i. 

Book  of  Enoch. 

17. 

Begins  to  rebuild  the  temple. 

4. 

Uirth  of  Christ. 

A.D 

70. 

Destruction  of  Jerusalem. 

13U. 

.Me^ianic     uprising     under     Bar- 

cochba. 

150. 

Targum  of  Onkelos.    Greek  version 
of  (  >ld  Testament  by  Aquila. 

102 

The  Minima. 

260, 

mi  of  Jonathan. 

350. 

Jerusalem  Talmud. 

400 

Babylonian  Talmud. 

1036. 

Overthrow     of     the      Babylonian 

Patriarchate. 

1204. 

Death  of  Maimonides. 

1402, 

1518. 

Expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Spain. 

Bomberg's  Rabbinical  Bible. 

1575. 

Dentil  of  Joseph  Karo,  the  second 

Maiinonides 

1666. 

The  pretended  Messiah,  Shabbathai 

Zwi.    sets    out  on    his  march    to 

Jerusalem. 

1786. 

Death  of  Moses  Mendelssohn. 

BOOKS   OF   REFERENCE. 


NOTE.  —  For  the  convenience  of  Bible-teachers,  the  following  list  of  books  of 
reference  on  the  Old  Testament,  fuller  than  those  given  in  the  text,  id  appended. 
In  imported  books  the  shilling  represents  about  35  cents,  the  mark  about  the 
same,  and  the  franc  about  30  cents.  By  direct  importation  through  the  mail, 
these  prices  may  be  lowered. 

jy  The  most  useful  of  the  larger  books  for  Sunday-School  teachers  are 
marked  with  one  asterisk,  and  of  these  the  most  essential  with  two  asterisks. 


DICTIONARIES. 

Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible.  American  edition,  by  Hackett  and 
Abbot.  New  York  :  Hurd  &  Houghton,  1868.  4  vols.  $20.00. 

Concise  Dictionary.     Boston.     1865.     $4.50.        # 

Smaller  Dictionary.    Boston.     1865.    $3.00. 

Herzog's  Real  -  Encyclopedic  fur  Protestantische  Theologie  und 
Kirche.  Leipzig :  Hinrichs.  New  edition  coming  out  by  num- 
bers, of  which  105  have  appeared.  Per  number,  1  mark. 

SchenkeFs  Bibel-Lexicon.  Leipzig:  Brockhaus,  1865-75.  6  vols. 
45  marks. 

McClintock  and  Strong's  Theological  and  Ecclesiastical  Cyclopedia. 
New  York:  Harper  and  Brothers,  1869-.  10  vols.  Per  vol.,  5.00.  * 

Kitto's  Cyclopedia  of  Biblical  Literature.  Third  edition.  Philadel- 
phia: Lippincott,  1870.  $25.00. 

Popular  Cyclopedia.     Philadelphia  :  Henry  Bill,  1863.     $4.50. 

F.  Lichtenberger,  Encyclopedic   des   Sciences   Religieuses.      Paris : 

Fischbacber.     13  vols.     Per  vol.,  12£  francs. 
Cruden's  Concordance,  condensed.     New  York.     $1.50.         *  * 
R.  D.  Hitcbcock,  Analysis  of  the  Bible  (by  subjects) ;  with  Cruden's 

Concordance  as  revised  by  Eadie.     New  York:  A.  J.  Johnson, 

1870.    $6.00.        * 


Xll  BOOKS   OF   REFERENCE. 


CRITICISM. 

F.  Bleek,  Introduction.    English  Translation.    London  :  George  Bell 
&  Sons,  1875.     2  vols.    10  shillings.        * 

Einleitung.    Edited  by  J.   Wellhausen.    Berlin:    G.   Reimer, 

1878.    lOJ  marks. 

W.  M.  L.  De  Wette,  Einleitung.    Edited  by  E.  Schrader.    Berlin  : 

G.  Reimer,  1869.    8  marks. 
J.  W.  Colenso,  The  Pentateuch  and  the  Book  of  Joshua.     London  : 

Longmans,  1879.     5  vols.     £2  10s. 

The  same,  Popular  Edition.     $2.40. 

The  Pentateuch  and  the  Moabite  Stone.     1873.     12  shillings. 

M.  Heilprin,  Historical  Poetry  of  the  Ancient  Hebrews.     New  York : 

Appleton,  1879-80.     2  vols.    $2.00. 
T.  C.  Murray,   Origin  of  the   Psalms.    New  York :  Scribner,  1880. 

$1.50.       * 
S.  Davidson,  Introduction.    London  :  Williams  &  Norgate,  1862-63. 

3  vols.     $4.20. 

I.  Taylor,  The  Spirit  of  Hebrew  Poetry.     N.  Y.  1863.    $1.50.        * 
J.  G.  Palfrey,  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Scriptures  and  Antiquities. 

Boston.     1838-52.    4  vols.    $15.00.     Out  of  print. 


COMMENTARIES. 

Bunsen's  Bibel-Werk.     Leipzig :  Brockhaus,  1858-70.    About  $20.00. 

Philippson's  Israelitische  Bibel  (Hebrew  and  German,  with  notes). 
Leipzig  :  Baumgartner,  1838.  About  $25.00. 

Lange's  Commentary  on  the  Old  Testament.  American  Translation. 
New  York:  Scribner,  1869-80.  15  vols.  $5.00  per  vol.  The  vol- 
umes on  Kings,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  and  the  Apocrypha 
may  be  especially  commended. 

Edouard  Reuss.  La  Bible.  Paris  :  Fischbacher,  1874-81.  19  vols. 
170  francs.  * 

The  Annotated  Paragraph  Bible.  London  :  Religious  Tract  Society, 
1867.  The  Notes  are  short  and  clear.  American  Reprint,  about 
$7.00.  *  * 

The  Bible  Commentary  (sometimes  called  The  Speaker's  Commen- 
tary). New  York :  Scribner,  1871-75.  6  vols.  $5.00  per  vol.  See 
especially  the  notes  on  Chronicles,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  and 
the  Minor  Prophets. 


BOOKS   OF   REFERENCE.  Xlll 

Kurzgefasstes  Exegetisches  Handbuch.  Leipzig :  S.  Hirzel.  About 
8  marks  per  vol.  The  various  volumes  are,  from  time  to  time, 
re  edited  or  rewritten.  Among  the  best  are  those  on  Genesis, 
Exodus,  Leviticus,  Job  (Dillmann),  Psalms  (Olshausen),  Ezekiel 
(Smend),  Minor  Prophets  (Steiner).  * 

On  Genesis.  M.  M.  Kalisch.  London :  Longmans  &  Co.  Hebrew 
and  English.  1858.  18  shillings.  Abridged  edition,  12  shillings. 

On  Exodus.  The  same.  Hebrew  and  English.  1855.  15  shillings. 
Abridged  edition,  12  shillings. 

On  Leviticus.  The  same.  Hebrew  and  English.  1867-72.  30  shil- 
lings. Abridged  edition,  16  shillings. 

On  the  Prophets.  H.  Ewald.  English  Translation.  London:  Wil- 
liams &  Norgate,  1875-81.  5  vols.  About  $31.75.  * 

G.  R.  Noyes.     Boston  :   American  Unitarian  Association,  1874. 

2  vols.     $1  25  per  vol.       * 

On  Isaiah.  T.  K.  Cheyne.  2 vols.  London:  C.  Kegan  Paul  &  Co., 
1880-82.  25  shillings.  * 

Fr.  Delitzsch.     New  York  :  Scribner.     2  vols.     $3.00  per  vol. 

On  Ezekiel.     Patrick  Fairbairn.     New  York  :  Scribner.     $5.00. 

On  the  Minor  Prophets.     E.  Henderson.     Andover :   W.  F.  Draper, 

1868.    $4.00. 
On  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi.    M.  Pressel.     Gotha :  Schloes- 

mann,  1870.     7  marks.       * 
On  Zechariah.    C.  H.  H.  Wright  (Bampton  Lectures  for  1878).    New 

York :  E.  P.  Button  &  Co.     About  $1.25. 
On  the  Psalms.    J.  J.  S.  Perowne.     Andover :  W.  F.  Draper,  1870. 

2  vols.     $6.75. 

Fr.    Delitzsch.     English   Translation.     Edinburgh:   T.  and  T. 

Clark,  1871.     3  vols.    $3.00  per  vol.        * 

A.  Tholuck.     English  Translation.     Philadelphia  :  W.  S.  &  Al- 
fred Martien,  1858.     $2.25. 

Charles  Spurgeon.     New  York  :  Scribner.     4  vols.    $4.00  per 

vol. 

H.  Ewald.     English  Translation.     London :  Williams  and  Nor- 
gate, 1880-81.     2  vols.     $2.75  per  vol.        * 

A.Barnes.    New  York  :  Harper  &  Brothers,  1876.     3  vols.    $1.50 

per  vol. 

and  the  Proverbs :  G.  R.  Noyes.    Boston :  American  Unitarian 

Association.     $1.25.        * 

On  the  Proverbs.  F.  Delitzsch.  English  Translation.  Edinburgh: 
T.  &  T.  Clark,  1874.  2  vols.  $3.00  per  vol.  * 


XIV 


BOOKS   OF   REFERENCE. 


On  Job.    Adalbert  Merx.    Jena  :  Dufft,  1871.     6  marks. 

-  E.  Renan.     Paris  :  Levy,  1865.     ?•$•  francs. 

-  F.  Delitzsch.     1869.     2  vols.     $3.00  per  vol.       * 

-  A.  Barnes.    New  York  :  Leavitt  &  Allen,  1867.    2  vols.     About 
:       $1.75  per  vol. 

-  J.  A.  Froude,  Short  Studies.    I. 

-  Ecclesiastes  and  the  Canticles.     G.  R.  Noyes.    Boston  Ameri- 
can Unitarian  Association,     $1.25.        * 

On  the  Song  of  Songs.  H.  Graetz.  Vienna  :  Braumiiller,  1871.  4 
marks. 

-  E.  Renan.    Paris  :  Levy,  1860.    6  francs. 

-  C.  D.  Ginsburg.     London,  1867. 

On  Ecclesiastes.   E.  Renan.    Paris  :  Calmann  Levy,  1882.     5  francs. 

-  C.  D.  Ginsburg.     London,  1861. 

-  H.  Graetz.     Leipzig  :  Winter,  1871.     5|  marks. 

The  Apocrypha  (with  marginal  notes  and  references).  London: 
Eyre  &  Spottiswoode.  $1.50.  *  * 

-  (without  notes  and  references).    London:  Society  for  Promot- 
ing Christian  Knowledge.     60  cents. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Covenant.  Revised  Translation, 
by  C.  Wellbeloved,  G.  V.  Smith,  J.  S.  Porter.  London  :  1859-62. 
3  vols.  $6.75. 

Variorum  Bible.  London  :  Eyre  &  Spottiswoode,  1880.  $4.60  to 
$9.25,  according  to  style.  *  * 


HISTORY. 

C.  K.  J.  Bunsen,   God  in   History.      English  Translation.    London; 

Longman,  Green,  &  Co.,  1868.     3  vols.    42  shillings. 
M.  Duricker,  History  of  Antiquity.     English  Translation.     London  : 

Bentley  &  Son,  1877-80.     4  vols.    21  shillings.       *    * 
G.  Maspero,  Histoire  Ancienne.  Paris  :  Hachette  &  Cie.,  1875.  5  francs. 
L.  Menard,  Hist,  des  Anciens  Peuples  de  FOrient.     1882.     4  francs. 
Heinrich  Brugsch,  History  of  Egypt.    English  Translation.    London  : 

John  Murray,  1879.     2  vols.     30  shillings. 
G.  Wilkinson,  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians.    New 

edition.     London  :  John  Murray,  1878.  3  vols.  About  40  shillings. 
G.  Rawlinson,  History  of  Egypt.     New  York  :   Dodd  &  Mead,  1881. 

2  vols.     $0.00.    To  be  read  with  caution,  especially  the  chronology 

and  account  of  religion. 
-  Ancient  Monarchies.   N.  Y.  :  Dodd  &  Mead,  1881.   3  vols.   $9.00. 


BOOKS   OF   REFERENCE.  XV 

Keeords  of  the  Past  (odd  vols.,  Assyrian,  even  vols,,  Egyptian  texts). 

London  :  Bagster.     Begun  in  1873,  published  from  time  to  time. 

Per  vol.,  3s.  6c?. 
George  Smith,  Chaldean  Genesis.    Edited  by  A.  H.  Sayce.    London  : 

Low,  1881.     18  shillings. 

Assyrian  Canon.     London  :  Bagster,  1875.     9  shillings. 

C.  P.  Tiele :  Outlines  of  the  History  of  Religion.  Boston  :  Houghton, 
Mifflin,  &  Co.  $2.50. 

Histoire  Comparee  des  Anciennes  Religions  de  PEgypte  et  des 

Peuples  Semitiques.    French  Translation.    Paris  :  G.  Fischbacher, 
1882.     12  francs.     The  best  book  on  the  subject. 

Egyptian  Religion.    English  Translation  (English  and  Foreign 

Phil.  Library).   Boston :  Houghton,  Mifflin,  &  Co.,  1882.   $1.75.      * 

Assyrian  Religion.     English  Translation.        * 

Hibbert  Lectures.  P.  Le  Page  Renouf,  Religion  of  Ancient  Egypt. 
London :  Williams  &  Norgate,  1880.  10s.  Qd. 

A.  Kuenen.    National  Religions  and  Universal  Religions.    Lon- 
don, 1882.        * 

A.  Kuenen,  Religion  of  Israel.  English  Translation.  London  :  Wil- 
liams &  Norgate,  1874.  3  vols.  $9.00. 

J.  Wellhausen,  Geschichte  Israels.  Berlin  :  G.  Reimer.  Vol.  I.,  1883. 
6  marks. 

H.  Graetz,  Geschichte  der  Juden  (from  the  earliest  times  till  the  present 
day).  Leipzig  :  O.  Liner.  Coming  out  in  parts,  at  20  cents  each. 

H.  Ewald,  History  of  Israel.  English  Translation.  5  vols.  About 
$20.00. 

E.  H.  Palmer,  History  of  the  Jewish  Nation.  London,  1874.  About 
$2.25.  * 

A.  Edersheim,  Sketch  of  the  Jewish  Social  Life  in  the  Days  of 
Christ.  London :  Religious  Tract  Society,  1876.  $2.50.  * 

Oort  and  Hooykaas,  Bible  for  Learners.  English  Translation.  Bos- 
ton :  Roberts  Brothers,  1878-81.  2  vols.  (Old  Test.)  $4.00.  *  * 

J.  Knappert,  Religion  of  Israel.  English  Translation.  Boston :  Rob- 
erts Brothers,  1878.  $1.00.  * 

H.  H.  Milman,  History  of  the  Jews.  New  York:  Widdleton.  3 
vols.  $1.50  per  vol. 

A.  P.  Stanley,  Jewish  Church.  New  York :  Charles  Scribner  & 
Sons,  1870.  3  vols.  $2.50  per  vol.  * 

W.  R.  Smith,  Old  Testament  in  the  Jewish  Church.  New  York, 
D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1881.  $1.75.  * 

Prophets  of  Israel.    New   York :    D.   Appleton   &  Co.,   1882. 

$1.75.       * 


XVI  BOOKS    OF   REFERENCE. 

J.  H.  Allen,  Hebrew  Men  and  Times.  Boston :  Roberts  Brothers, 
1879.  $1.50. 

F.  H.  Hedge,  Primeval  World  of  Hebrew  Tradition.  Boston :  Rob- 
erts Brothers,  1872.  $1.50. 

R.  P.  Smith,  Prophecy  a  Preparation  for  Christ.  London  &  New 
York  :  McMillan,  1871.  $1.75. 

A.  Kuenen,  Prophets  and  Prophecy  in  Israel.    English  Translation. 
London :  Longmans,  Green,  &  Co,  1877.     21  shillings. 

B.  Duhm,  Theologie  der  Propheten.    Bonn :  Adolph  Marcus,  1875. 

5  marks. 

F.  D.  Maurice,  Prophets  and  Kings  of  the  Old  Testament.  Boston  • 
Crosby,  Nichols,  &  Co.,  1853.  About  $3.50. 

J.  Fiirst,  Der  Canon  des  Alten  Testaments.  Leipzig :  Dorffling  & 
Franke,  1868.  2.40  marks. 

S.  Davidson,  The  Canon  of  the  Bible.  London  :  Henry  S.  King  & 
Co.,  1877.  $2.50.  * 

Humphrey  Prideaux,  Connection  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
New  York:  Harper  &  Brothers,  1845.  2vols.  About  $4.00.  *  * 

Flavius  Josephus,  Complete  Works.  Translated  by  Whiston.  Vari- 
ous editions,  from  $1.00  to  $6.00.  * 

M.  J.  Raphall,  Post-Biblical  History  of  the  Jews.  Philadelphia; 
1855.  2  vols.  $3.00.  Out  of  Print. 

J.  M.  Jost,  Geschichte  des  Judenthums  und  Seiner  Secten.  Leipzig : 
Dorffling  &  Franke,  1857-59.  About  20  marks. 

L.  Wogue,  Histoire  de  la  Bible  et  de  TExegese  Biblique.  Paris  :  Im- 
primerie  Nationale,  1881.  12  francs. 

J.  W.  Etheridge,  Introduction  to  Jewish  Literature.  London  :  Long- 
man, Brown,  Green,  &  Longman,  1856.  About  $3.00.  * 

J.  Picciotto,  Sketches  of  Anglo-Jewish  History.     London  :   Triibner 

6  Co.,  1875. 

F.  D.  Mocatta,  The  Jews  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  the  Inquisition. 
London,  1877.  About  $3.00. 

A.  Geiger,  Judaism  and  its  History.  English  Translation.  New 
York :  M.  Thalmessing  &  Co.  About  $1.00. 

M.  A.  Weill,  Le  Judaisme,  ses  Dogmas  et  sa  Mission.  Paris :  Li- 
brairie  Israelite,  1866.  3  vols.  21  francs. 

Charles  Taylor,  Sayings  of  the  Jewish  Fathers  (translation  of  Tal- 
mud Tracts).  Cambridge,  England :  University  Press,  1877. 
About  $3.00.  * 

F.  Huidekoper,  Judaism  at  Rome,  B.C.  76-A.D  140.  New  York: 
James  Miller.  $2.25.  * 


BOOKS   OF    REFERENCE.  XV11 

J.  T.  Sunderland,  What  is  the  Bible  7    New  York  :  G.  P.  Putnam's 

Sons,  1878.     $1.00. 

S.  R.  Calthrop,  The  Old  Testament.    Unitarian  Review,  October,  1880. 
E.  H.  Hall,  The  Bible.     Unitarian  Review,  October,  1880 ;  also  in 

Ninth  Report  of  National  Unitarian  Conference,  1881. 
Institute  Essays.    Boston :  G.  H.  Ellis,  1880.    $1.25. 
J.  W.  Chadwick,  The  Bible  of  To-day.    New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's 

Sons.    $1.75. 
W.  C.  Gannett,  A  Chosen  Nation ;  or,  The  Growth  of  the  Hebrew 

Religion.     Chicago  :   Western  Unitarian  Sunday -School  Society. 

15  cents.     Chart  to  accompany  the  same,  5  cents. 
R.  P.  Stebbins,   A  Study  of  the  Pentateuch     Boston:  George  H. 

Ellis,  1882.    $1.25. 


GEOGRAPHY  AND  ARCHEOLOGY. 

Edward    Robinson,     Biblical    Researches    in    Palestine.     Boston : 

Crocker  &  Brewster,  1856-57.  3  vols.  with  maps,  1  vol.  $10.00. 
A.  P.  Stanley,  Sinai  and  Palestine.  New  York :  Widdleton.  $2.50. 
Jahn's  Archaeology.  English  Translation.  N.  Y.  1853.  $2.00.  * 
S.  Clark,  Bible  Atlas,  with  index  of  Names.  London :  Society  for 

Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  1868.     $7.50.        *    * 
E.  P.  Barrows,    Sacred   Geography  and    Antiquities.     New    York : 

American  Tract  Society.     $2.25.        *   * 
Collinses  Atlas  of  Scripture  Geography.    Glasgow  :  William  Collins, 

Sons,  &  Co.     16  maps.    9  pence. 

James  Fergusson,  Temples  of  the  Jews.   London  :  John  Murray,  1878. 
H.  B.   Tristram,    Natural    History  of    the   Bible.    London.     1867. 

About  $3.00.        * 
J.  G.  Wood,  Bible  Animals.    New  York.     1870.    $5.00.       * 


HISTORY 


OF 


THE    RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL. 


INTRODUCTORY   LESSON. 

BEFORE  beginning  our  study  of  the  history  of  the  Israelitish 
religion,  it  may  be  well  to  take  a  general  survey  of  the  course 
of  its  development,  in  order  to  fix  in  our  minds  its  main  epochs 
and  its  salient  facts.  At  the  same  time  the  general  plan  of  the 
following  lessons  will  thus  be  brought  out. 


§  1.     THE  DIVISIONS  OF  THE  HISTORY. 

Divisions. — We  give  these  lessons  the  title  "History  of 
the  Religion  of  Israel,"  because  there  is  little  to  study  in  Israel 
beside  its  religion  (no  art,  science,  philosophy,  to  speak  of),  and 
because  we  wish  to  trace  its  historical  development.  We  make 
five  divisions:  1.  The  formative,  extending  from  the  earliest 
times  to  about  the  end  of  the  ninth  century  B.C.;  2.  The  pro- 
phetic, from  this  point  to  the  Exile,  sixth  century  B.C.,  the  Exile 
being  a  transition  period ;  3.  The  priestly,  from  the  return  to 
about  the  first  century  B.C.  ;  4.  The  scribal,  extending  from  this 
point  on  to  the  eighteenth  century  of  our  era;  5.  The  modern, 
including  the  last  hundred  years.  It  will  be  understood  that 
these  division-marks  are  to  be  taken  in  a  general  way;  the  dif- 
ferent periods  overlap  and  melt  into  one  another. 


2  THE    mSTOSY    OF   THE 

1.  Progress  in  the  First  Period.  —  During  the  first  period 
things  are  in   an   unsettled  condition.     The  wandering,  half- 
civilized  Israelitish  tribes  gradually  draw  closer  together,  come 
into  permanent   habitations,   arid  are   compacted   into   a  firm 
kingly  government  (eleventh  century  B.C.),  though  they  imme- 
diately afterwards  split  into  two  kingdoms,  each  of  which  goes 
its  own  way.     At  the  same   time  the  religion  becomes  more 
defined  in  its   outward  form   and  its  inward   meaning.     The 
people  cast  away  a  number  of  their  ancient  deities,  and  practi- 
cally restrict  themselves,  so  far  as  their  own  circle  of  divinities 
is  concerned,  to  their  national  god,  Yah  we.    They  were,  however, 
at  this  time  by  no  means  monotheists.     They  regarded  the  gods 
of  other  nations  as  real  beings,  and  they  adopted  the  worships 
of  their  Canaanite  neighbors.     But  Yahwe  was  the  god  of  Israel 
alone,  and  they  clung  to  him.     Their  ethical  notions  and  prac- 
tices were  rude, — there  was  much  violence  and  cruelty;  but  more 
enlightened  ideas  gradually  established  themselves,  till,  towards 
the  end  of  this  first  period,  the  social  life  was  tolerably  firm  and 
kindly.     Temples  were  built,  and  a  regular  priesthood  and  re- 
ligious service   instituted.     A  beginning  was  made   in   litera- 
ture :  short  poems  and  sketches  of  history  and  tradition  were 
written. 

2.  Second  Period.  —  The  second  period  is  perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  in  Jewish  history.     It  was  not  outwardly  successful, 
for   during    its   progress   the   two   Israelitish    kingdoms   were 
destroyed,  and  the  people  carried  off,  some  to  Assyria,  some  to 
Babylon.     But  the  religion  made  a  great  stride  forward.     The 
prophets  insisted  that  Yahwe  alone,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other 
gods,  was  to  be  worshipped  by  Israel ;  and  at  last  they  preached 
that  there  was  no  other  god  but  Yahwe,  and  that  he  should  be 
worshipped  not  only  by  Israel,  but  by  all  nations.     This  was 
true  monotheism,  and  the  Jews  have  taught  it  to  us  and  to  all 
the  world.     This  is  their  contribution  to  the  world's  stock  of 
ideas.      Some   other   details   of    religious   life   they  may  have 
worked  out,  but  this  is  their  glory. 

In  this  second  period,  also,  the  Israelites  began  to  regulate 
their  temple-worship,  define  the  duties  and  privileges  of  priests, 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  3 

and  record  their  religious  law  in  books  (Deuteronomy,  seventh 
century  B.C.). 

Their  ethical  conceptions  grew  in  purity  and  definiteness. 
They  dwelt  more  and  more  on  the  nobler  attributes  of  God,  his 
holiness  and  justice,  his  faithfulness  and  love.  It  is  from  the 
prophets  mainly  that  we  learn  this. 

3.  Third   Period.  —  The   prophetic   period  was   the   fresh, 
creative  youth  of  Israel.     To  this  succeeds  the  time  of  reflection, 
when,  the  great  principles  of  religion  having  been  established 
and  nothing  more  in  that  direction  possible,  there  begins  the 
desire  to  regulate  the  religious  life  by  fixed  precepts.     Israel  has 
sought  the  one  God  and  found  him,  and  now  feels  that  its  task 
is  to  maintain  his  service  and  secure  his  favor  by  following  rules. 
This,  then,  is  the  legal  period,  which  was  controlled  first  by 
priests  and  then  by  scribes.     The  priests  began  to  draw  up  ritual 
codes  during  the  Exile  (Ezekiel),  and  they  continued  this  work 
till  the  present  Law  of  the  Pentateuch  was  completed  (fifth  cen- 
tury B.C.).     The  prophets  after  the  Exile  were  few  and  weak. 
Israel  had  become  the  "people  of  the  book."     They  were  pure 
theists,  but  they  began  to  give  the  most  of  their  thought  to  the 
ceremonies  of  religion.     During  this  period  their  political  life 
flashed  out  into  splendor  for  one  brief  moment  under  the  Mac- 
cabees (second  century  B.C.),  and  then  sank  forever. 

4.  Fourth  Period.     Study  of  the  Law  and  Tradition.— 

The  scribes  were  the  successors  of  the  prophets  and  the  priests, 
—  of  the  former  inasmuch  as  they  were  the  expounders  of  prin- 
ciples of  religion,  and  of  the  latter  in  so  far  as  they  were  occu- 
pied with  explaining  the  ritual  law.  We  have  seen  what  an 
important  work  the  prophets  accomplished.  Priests  also  had 
existed,  of  course,  from  the  beginning;  there  were  always  altars 
and  sacrifices.  The  priestly  period  represents  the  natural  devo- 
tion to  the  temple,  as  the  visible  centre  and  sign  of  religious 
life  and  of  the  presence  of  God,  when  the  creative  impulse  of 
the  prophets  had  died  out.  It  might  seem  to  us  that  God 
spoke  more  directly  to  Israel  through  the  prophets ;  yet  he  led 
Israel  no  less  surely  by  priests  and  scribes.  The  priests,  during 
and  after  the  Exile,  were  also  scribes,  that  is,  students  and  ex- 


4  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

pounders  of  the  law.  And  before  the  beginning  of  our  era 
schools  had  been  established  for  this  legal  study ;  at  that  time 
law  and  theology  were  one  and  the  same.  Priests  and  scribes 
stood  side  by  side;  the  former  conducted  the  public  religious 
service,  the  latter  explained  its  rules  and  principles.  But  after 
the  destruction  of  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans 
(A.D.  70)  the  priesthood  vanished,  —  there  was  nothing  more  for 
it  to  do.  From  that  time  for  seventeen  hundred  years  the  relig- 
ious thought  of  the  Jews  consisted  in  study  of  the  law,  written 
and  traditional.  The  written  law  is  contained  in  the  Pentateuch. 
But  many  of  its  prescriptions  required  explanation,  and  this  was 
given  orally  by  the  teachers  (rabbis) .  These  explanations  soon 
formed  a  large  mass  of  traditions  (they  may  be  compared  to  our 
Common  Law),  and  after  a  while  were  gathered  up  and  com- 
mitted to  writing  (Talmud) ;  the  Jews  then  became  the  people 
of  the  Talmud.  This  study  was  not  lacking  in  results.  It 
sharpened  the  intellect  and  it  produced  a  great  legal  code.  But 
it  spent  most  of  its  force  on  little  things ;  it  was  like  the  scholas- 
tic philosophy  in  its  tendency  to  quibble,  but  it  had  no  such 
future  as  that  philosophy.  It  was  devoid  of  religious  life. 

In  the  midst  of  this  period  Christ  appeared  and  Christianity 
was  established ;  but,  though  it  sprang  out  of  Judaism,  which 
had  prepared  its  way,  it  had  no  appreciable  influence  on  Jewish 
thought.  Israel  remained  separate  in  the  world.  Scattered 
over  the  face  of  the  earth,  the  Jews  entered  into  civil  relations 
with  Greeks  and  Romans,  Persians,  Mohammedans,  and  Chris- 
tians ;  but  their  religion  remained  about  the  same  that  Christ 
found  it. 

5.  Fifth  Period.  Reason  in  Religion.  —  Such  was  their 
position  up  to  a  -hundred  years  ago.  They  were  blind  followers 
of  authority ;  they  would  not  believe  that  anything  could  be 
learned  outside  of  the  Scripture  (the  Old  Testament)  and  the 
Talmud.  But  towards  the  close  of  the  last  century  a  body  of 
Jewish  thinkers,  imbued  with  the  German  philosophy  of  that 
period,  asserted  the  right  to  use  the  reason  in  the  determination 
of  religious  belief  and  practice.  They  simplified  the  creed, 
reducing  it  to  a  confession  of  faith  in  God,  and  threw  off  the 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  5 

authority  of  the  Talmud.  They  were  followed  by  large  numbers 
of  Israelites  in  Europe  and  America,  who  constitute  the  body 
known  as  the  Reform,  while  the  Talmudists  are  called  the  Ortho- 
dox. The  Reform  Jews,  who  are  now  in  the  majority,  have 
distinguished  themselves  by  scientific  research.  They  have  no 
creed,  but  represent  all  phases  of  religious  belief.  And  in  fact 
it  is  not  the  historical  faith  of  Israel  that  they  profess.  They  are 
merely  Jews  who  have  reached  modern  (Christian)  ideas  of  re- 
ligion. It  is  the  Orthodox,  or  Talmudists,  who  are  the  formal 
continuers  of  the  religion  of  the  old  prophets  and  scribes,  though 
the  Reform  has  more  of  the  old  prophetic  spirit. 

QUESTIONS. 

What  is  the  title  of  this  course  of  lessons  ?  Why  is  it  chosen  V  What 
are  the  divisions  of  the  history  ? 

1.  In  the  first  period,  what  progress  was  made  in  the  organization  of 
society  ?  —  in  religion  V  —  in  morals  ?  —  in  literature  V 

2.  In  the  second  period,  what  progress  was  made  in  the  conception  of 
God  ?  —  in  the  outward  forms  of  religion  V  —  in  ethical  ideas  V 

3.  What  is  the  legal  period?     Why  is  Israel  called  "  the  people  of  the 
book  "  V     What  brilliant  political  record  in  this  period?  —  its  date  ? 

4.  Of  whom  were  the  scribes  the  successors  ?     When  did  the  priests  be- 
gin to  study  the  Law  V    When  did  the  priesthood  vanish  V     Who  were  the 
rabbis  V     What  is  the  Talmud  V    Were  the  Jews  much  affected  by  Christi- 
anity ? 

5.  When  did  the  Jews  begin  to  be  imbued  witfr  modern  European  philo- 
sophical and  religious  ideas  ?    What  is  the  difference  between  the  Orthodox 
and  the  Reform  Jews  ?    Is  the  Jewish  Reform  really  a  Jewish  religious 
movement  V 

§  2.    THE   LITERATURE. 

In  the  following  lessons  we  shall  speak  of  the  literature  along 
with  the  various  periods  of  the  history;  but  here  we  shall  give 
a  connected  view  of  its  development. 

1.  Writings  of  the  Ninth  Century  B.C.  —The  first  Israel- 
itish  writings  that  we  can  clearly  trace  appeared  in  the  times  of 
the  early  kings,  probably  about  the  ninth  century  B.C.  Before 
that  period  poets  had  recited  odes,  and  fathers  had  related  to  their 
children  stories  of  the  olden  times  and  incidents  of  later  years. 


0  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

But  now  books  began  to  be  composed.  There  were  poetical 
compilations,  such  as  "The  Book  of  the  Wars  of  Yahwe" 
(Num.  xxi.  14)  and  "'The  Book  of  Yashar"  (Jashar,  Josh. 
x.  13,  2  Sam.  i.  18)  ;  prose  histories  of  the  kings,  and  perhaps  of 
the  patriarchs,  forming  the  basis  of  o'ur  present  historical  books ; 
and  perhaps,  also,  some  simple  collections  of  laws,  like  that  in 
Exodus  xxi.-xxiii.  These  were  all  brief  and  occasional;  there 
was  nothing  connected  and  extensive. 

2.  Writings  from  the  Eighth  Century  to  the  Sixth  B.C. 
Prophets   and   Historians.     Law  Books  and  Proverbs.  — 

From  the  eighth  century  B  c.  on,  the  Israelites  show  great  in- 
crease of  literary  skill.  They  were  advancing  in  civilization. 
With  greater  quiet,  stability,  wealth,  and  leisure,  there  grew  up 
a  class  of  men  who  devoted  themselves  to  study  and  writing. 
They  began  to  have  wider  relations  with  surrounding  nations. 
Their  thought  became  more  connected  and  far-reaching.  The 
prophets  pronounced  and  wrote  their  eloquent  discourses.  Poets 
began  to  compose  hymns  for  religious  worship.  A  comparatively 
large  law  book  was  written  (Deuteronomy,  about  B.C.  622);  and 
this,  in  accordance  with  the  ideas  of  the  time,  which  demanded  the 
authority  of  ancient  sages  and  law-givers,  wTas  ascribed  to  Moses. 
There  were  collections  of  the  sayings  of  wise  men  (Prov.  xxv.  1, 
about  B.C.  710).  And  then  came  more  regular  works  of  history: 
during  the  Exile  were  written  our  books  of  Judges,  Samuel,  and 
Kings,  and  probably  Ruth.  Historical  writing  marks  the  rise  of 
the  reflective  period  in  a  nation's  history.  But  Israel's  histori- 
cal works  were  all  religious ;  they  were  designed  to  exhibit  God's 
guidance  of  the  people ;  they  were  sermons  made  up  of  selec- 
tions from  history.  There  is  no  constructive  art  in  them ;  they 
are  merely  collections  of  facts  to  point  a  religious  moral.  For 
this  reason  the  Israelitish  mode  of  writing  history  is  called 
"  pragmatic." 

3.  Legal  Writings.     The    Canons  of   the   Law  and  the 
Prophets.  —  Next  naturally  followed  the  legal  literature.     After 
various  law  books  had  been  written  they  were  all  gathered  up, 
sifted,  and  edited  about  the  time  of  Ezra  (B.C.  450)  as  one  book. 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  7 

This  is  substantially  our  present  Law  (Tora)  or  Pentateuch. 
It  was  then  accepted  as  a  sacred  book.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  Jewish  Canon,  or  collection  of  sacred  books.  After  a 
while  (perhaps  about  B.C.  400)  the  writings  of  the  prophets  and 
the  earlier  historical  books  (those  composed  during  the  Exile, 
and  Joshua)  were  gathered  into  a  second  part  of  the  Canon. 

4.  The  Writings  of  the  Sages,  and  the  later  Historical 
Books.  The  Third  Canon.  —  The  ancient  Israelites  never  pur- 
sued philosophy,  in  our  sense  of  the  word.  But  in  this  later 
period  of  their  history  they  discussed  questions  of  life  and  relig- 
ion, inquiring  into  the  ways  of  God  with  man,  and  asking 
concerning  the  best  principles  of  living.  Of  this  species  of 
literature  we  have  the  books  of  Job,  Ecclesiastes,  Wisdom  of 
Solomon,  and  Wisdom  of  the  Son  of  Sirach.  To  these  we  may 
add  the  book  of  Proverbs  and  some  of  the  Psalms  (such  as 
xxxvii. ,  xlix. ,  Ixxiii.) .  Here  we  have  the  answers  that  wise  men 
of  Israel  gave  to  the  deeper  problems  of  life.  It  is  no  longer  proph- 
ets pouring  out  passionate  appeals  for  God,  or  priests  telling  of 
sacrifices,  but  sages  wrestling  with  doubts  and  fears. 

Other  histories  were  written  at  this  time :  the  object  of  Chron- 
icles (fourth  century  B.C.)  was  to  describe  the  history  of  Israel 
in  its  relation  to  the  temple-service ;  and  the  books  of  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah  are  continuations  of  this  description.  Then  there 
were  what  may  be  called  historical  romances,  such  as  Jonah, 
Esther,  Tobit,  and  Judith.  There  was  also  the  Song  of  Songs, 
a  poem  in  honor  of  pure  wedded  love.  Finally,  in  the  days  of 
the  Maccabees  (second  century  B.C.)  were  produced  the  apoca- 
lyptic book  of  Daniel  and  the  history  of  the  Maccabean  struggle. 
None  of  these  latest  books  show  the  religious  freshness  of  the 
prophets ;  only  in  the  poetry  of  the  Psalms  (which  continued  to 
be  composed  down  to  the  second  century  B.C.)  we  find  smooth- 
ness of  form  and  depth  of  national  religious  feeling.  Israel  had 
lost  its  creative  power  of  thought.  About  a  hundred  years 
before  the  beginning  of  our  era  these  were  gathered  into  a  third 
part  of  the  sacred  Canon.  All  of  them  were  accepted  as  sacred 
by  the  Egyptian  Jews,  but  some  of  them  were  i'or  various  reasons 
rejected  by  the  Jews  of  Palestine ;  these  last  are  called  apocry- 
phal books  (they  may  be  found  in  some  editions  of  the  Bible). 


8  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

5.  The  Rabbinical  Writings.  —  A  few  other  works  were 
produced  by  the  Jews  during  the  second  and  first  centuries  be- 
fore Christ,  such  as  Ezekiel's  tragedy  on  the  Mosaic  history, 
and  the  apocalyptic  Sibylline  Oracles  and  books  of  Enoch  and 
the  Jubilees.  But  the  people  now  threw  itself  into  the  study 
of  the  legal  traditions.  In  Alexandria  the  influence  of  Greek 
thought  was  felt  to  some  extent  (Philo,  A.D.  50),  but  the  body 
of  the  nation  was  little  affected  thereby.  The  Talmud  occupied 
Israel  for  seventeen  centuries.  Learned  men  did  little  but  write 
commentaries  on  the  Bible  or  the  tradition.  Even  what  they 
did  in  the  shape  of  grammars  and  dictionaries  (which  was,  how- 
ever, valuable)  was  to  assist  the  study  of  the  Scripture.  There  was 
little  new  thought  ;  the  most  was  cast  in  a  Talmudical  mould. 
They  studied  Aristotle  and  the  Arabian  writers,  but  it  was  for 
the  sake  of  the  Talmud.  Here  and  there  arose  a  great  thinker 
who  gave  some  impulse  to  his  people's  life  ;  but  as  a  whole  the 
distinctively  Jewish  literature,  from  the  beginning  of  our  era  to 
the  present  time,  is  hardly  more  than  a  continuation  of  the  legal 
work  of  the  six  first  centuries.  The  old  national  creative  power 
was  essentially  religious,  and  the  creative  period  seems  to  have 
passed.  The  modern  Reform  is  active  in  literature,  but  it  is 
not  Jewish  at  all  in  any  proper  sense  of  that  term. 

If  we  are  to  judge  from  present  indications,  the  people  of 
Israel,  as  a  nation,  have  done  their  work  in  the  world.  But  that 
work,  contained  in  our  Old  Testament,  is  a  great  one.  They 
have  felt  God's  presence,  and  spoken  in  his  name  to  all  human- 
ity. They  have  bequeathed  to  us  an  inestimable  treasure.  It  is 
not  merely  from  historical  curiosity  that  we  study  their  ancient 
writings,  but  also  from  reverent  desire  to  know  God. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  are  the  earliest  Israelitish  writings  that  we  know  of?     What  is 
their  general  character  ? 

2.  Why  did  the  Israelites  grow  in  literary  power  from  the  eighth  century 
B.C.  on  ?    What  sort  of   books  were  now  composed  ?     What  advance  in 
thought  is  marked  by  the  rise  of  historical  writing  ?     What  is  meant  by  the 
pragmatic  way  of  writing  history  ? 

3.  When  did  Ezra  live,  and  what  did  he  do?     What  is  a  sacred  Canon  ? 
When  was  the  legal  Canon  formed?  —when  the  prophetical  ? 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  9 

4.  What  books  were  written  by  the  sages  or  wise  men  V    What  was  their 
object  ?     What  is  the  date  and  purpose  of  Chronicles  ?    What  books  were 
written  in  the  Maccabean  period  V    When  was  the  third  Canon  formed  ? 
What  is  meant  by  apocryphal  books? 

5.  After  the  Maccabean  period,  into  what  study  did  the  Jews  throw 
themselves  ?    Has  this  study  produced  anything  new  or  of  special  religious 
importance  ? 


LESSON   I. 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  HEBREW   HISTORY. 

1.  The  Races  of  the  Earth.  —  The  nations  of  the  earth,  so 
far  as  we  now  know  them,  are  divided  into  various  races,  which 
may  be  roughly  named:  American,  Mongolian,  Malay- Polyne- 
sian, Negro,  and  Caucasian.     The  Caucasian  race  embraces  the 
Hamitic,  Semitic,  and  Indo-European  families.     The  ancient 
peoples  who  dwelt  in  the  north  of  Africa,  the  Egyptians,  Cush- 
ites,  and  Libyans,  are  Hamites;  the  Hebrews  and  their  kinsfolk, 
such  as  the  Assyrians,  the  Aramaeans  or  Syrians,  the  Phoeni- 
cians, the  Canaanites,  and  the  Arabs,  are  the  Semites  ;  and  the 
Hindus,  the  Persians,  the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  the  Russians, 
the  Germans,  the  English,  the  French,  the  Irish,  and  other 
peoples  of  Western  Europe  are  the  Indo-Europeans. 

2.  The  Migrations  of  the   Semites.  —  In  historical  times 
the  Semites  occupied  Western  Asia,  from  the  Tigris-Euphrates 
valley  (Mesopotamia)  to  the  strait  of  Bab-el-Man  deb.     But  in 
still  earlier  times  a  large  part  of  them  dwelt,  along  with  other 
nations,  in  Mesopotamia  and  the  adjoining  country,  and  here 
probably  lived  the  ancestors  of  the  Hebrews.     In  those  days  it 
was  not  unusual  for  tribes  to  leave  their  country  and  seek  other 
abodes,  where  they  could  have  more  room  and  more  easily  find 
sustenance,  just  as  people  came,  and  still  come,  from  Europe  to 
settle  in  America,  and  as  now  many  persons  go  to  the  west  of 
this  country  to  live.     So,  at  a  very  early  date,  one  Semitic  tribe 


10  THE    HISTORY    OP   THE 

travelled  away,  and  settled  on  the  shore  of  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  and  founded  the  cities  of  Sidon  and  Tyre  ;  these  were  the 
Phoenicians.  Not  far  from  the  same  time  other  Semitic  tribes 
came  into  the  same  region,  and  took  possession  of  the  land  of 
Canaan,  expelling  or  destroying  the  people  they  found  there. 
These  new-comers  were  the  tribes  that  are  called  Canaanites  in 
the  Old  Testament;  such  as  the  Jebusites,  the  Amorites,  the 
Hivites,  and  the  Perizzites.  They  dwelt  in  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah, and  many  other  cities.  Probably  about  the  same  time 
came  the  Philistines,  who  were  somehow  connected  with  the 
Canaanites;  but  it  is  uncertain  from  what  region  they  entered 
Canaan.  Who  the  older  tribes  who  preceded  the  Canaanites 
in  this  land  were,  we  do  not  know.  Some  time  after  the  Ga- 
naanites  had  settled  there,  perhaps  about  the  year  B.C.  2000, 
came  another  migration,  that  of  the  tribes  that  we  call  Hebrews. 
Besides  the  Israelites,  this  group  of  tribes  included  the  Edorn- 
ites,  the  Ammonites,  the  Moabites,  and  perhaps  the  Amalekites 
and  some  others.  Probably  these  did  not  all  come  at  the  same 
time.  It  is  likely  that  the  Israelites  themselves  were  made  up 
of  several  different  though  closely  related  bodies  of  immigrants, 
who,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  were  welded  together  into  one 
nation ;  for  a  long  time  after  they  settled  in  Canaan,  Judah 
and  Ephraim  held  aloof  from  each  other,  and  quarrels  and  wars 
often  occurred  between  them. 

3.   The  Nomadic  Life  of  the  Hebrews  in  Canaan.  —  At 

first  the  Hebrews  wandered  about  with  their  flocks  and  herds  in 
the  southern  half  of  Canaan,  and  perhaps  in  the  country  east  of 
the  Jordan.  Gradually  the  tribes  settled  down  in  various  parts 
of  the  land,  all  except  the  Israelites,  who,  as  we  shall  see,  before 
they  came  to  rest  in  permanent  habitations,  were  to  spend  some 
time  on  the  borders  of  Egypt.  During  this  period  of  wander- 
ing or  nomadic  life  they  had  no  regular  government.  Each 
small  tribe  had  its  chief,  and  probably  each  subdivision  of  a 
tribe  had  its  elders,  who  exercised  a  sort  of  control  over  its 
movements,  and  administered  justice.  The  laws  in  use  were  no 
doubt  such  as  we  commonly  find  among  the  wandering  tribes  of 
the  desert.  For  the  most  part  each  man  had  to  look  out  for 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  11 

himself.  If  a  man  was  killed,  his  next  of  kin  had  the  right 
and  was  expected  to  kill  the  slayer.  The  penalty  of  theft  was 
double  or  fourfold  restitution.  Property  consisted  wholly  of 
flocks  and  herds.  There  were  no  books  among  them;  whether 
they  were  acquainted  with  writing  is  doubtful.  Purchases  of 
goods  were  probably  made  frequently  by  barter,  though  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  they  had  money  of  uncoined  silver  which  was 
estimated  by  weight.  The  best  picture  of  their  life  is  to  be 
found  in  that  of  the  wandering  tribes  of  the  Arabian  desert 
to-day. 

4.  The  Earliest  Form  of  the  Religion  of  Israel  in  Ca- 
naan.— We  should  not  expect  that  the  religion  of  such  half-civil- 
ized tribes  would  be  very  pure.  God  had  great  designs  for  these 
Israelites :  in  after  years  they  were  to  become  the  teachers  of  the 
world  in  the  knowledge  of  God ;  he  was  to  lead  them  along  a 
wonderful  way.  But  their  growth  was  to  be  slow.  As  it  required 
many  ages  for  our  earth  to  reach  a  condition  in  which  it  should 
be  habitable  for  man,  so  it  required  many  centuries  before  the 
religion  of  Israel  attained  the  form  in  which  it  could  minister  to 
man's  highest  needs,  and  prepare  the  way  for  Jesus  the  Christ. 
Before  reaching  full  age  the  people  had  to  pass  through  child- 
hood; and  it  is  of  its  childhood  that  we  are  now  speaking, — we 
might  say,  of  its  infancy.  At  this  stage  of  its  life  Israel  differed 
hardly  at  all,  at  least  in  outward  appearance,  from  its  heathen 
neighbors.  All  these  tribes  had  formerly  worshipped  stocks  and 
stones,  —  dead  things  in  which  they  believed  gods  dwelt.  The 
Israelites  had  almost  outgrown  this,  but  still  they  had  the  cus- 
tom of  setting  up  sacred  stones,  and  worshipping  under  sacred 
trees,  as  the  Druids  in  England  used  to  do.  Old  habits  cling 
long  to  nations,  as  they  do  to  us  all.  However,  the  Israelites 
had,  by  this  time,  got  to  the  worship  of  gods  who  were  mostly 
connected  with  the  visible  heavens  and  the  heavenly  bodies. 
This  was  idolatry,  but  it  was  better  than  worshipping  stones. 
The  broad  sky,  the  terrible  thunder-storm,  the  sun,  the  moon, 
the  stars,  —  all  these  suggested  to  them  divinities  who  dwelt  in 
and  governed  these  objects.  We  know  very  little  about  the 
names  and  characters  of  these  gods.  " El"  was  probably  a  gen- 


12  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

eral  name  for  divine  persons.  One  deity  seems  to  have  been 
called  Elyon,  which  means  "high;"  another,  Shaddai,  the 
"mighty,"  or  the  "  destroyer."  There  was  perhaps  a  Gad,  the 
god  of  fortune  ;  and  an  Asher,  the  god  of  prosperity.  Perhaps, 
too,  at  this  time,  they  worshipped  Yahwe  (Jehovah),  who  after- 
wards became  their  only  God.  * 

5.  Their  Worship.  —  Like  all  other  ancient  nations  they 
sacrificed  to  the  gods,  the  offerings  being  animals  (sheep,  goats, 
bullocks,  calves,  pigeons),  or  wheat,  oil,  and  wine.  Priests, 
also,  perhaps  they  had,  though  it  is  likely  that  every  father 
of  a  family  acted  as  priest  in  his  own  household.  They  had  no 
temple,  but  built  altars  wherever  they  chose.  Their  worship 
was  of  the  simplest  kind,  and  they  had  no  sacred  books. 

6.  Their  Language.  —  Their  language  was  that  which  we  call 
Hebrew,  the  language  in  which  the  Old  Testament  was  written. 
It  belongs  to  the  same  family  with  the  Assyrian,  the  Syriac,  and 
the  Arabic;  and  it  is  altogether  different  from  Greek,  Latin, 
German,  French,  and  English. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  stories  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  book 
of  Genesis:   "  Early  Old  Testament  Narratives,"  by  Pulsford, 
and  "Beginnings."  by  Gould.     They  are  legendary  accounts 
which  grew  up  among  the  people,  and  were  committed  to  writ- 
ing in  later  times.     They  represent  later  religious  ideas,  and 
embody  many  noble   truths ;    but   they  contain   only  a  small 
kernel  of  history.     Vigouroux's  "  La  Bible  et  les  De*couvertes 
Modernes,"   2  vols.,  Paris,  1877,  opposes   the  conclusions   of 
Kuenen,  Lenormant,  and  others. 

2.  On  the  various  forms  of  religion,  as  fetishism,  astrolatry, 
&c. :  C.  P.  Tiele's  "  Outlines  of  the  History  of  Religions,"  Lon- 
don, 1877. 

3.  On  the  earliest  form  of  the  Israelitish  religion:   Tiele's 
"  Histoire  Comparee  des  Anciennes  Religions  de  1'Egypte  et  des 
Peuples  Semitiques,"  French  translation,  Paris,  1882. 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  13 

4.  On  the  connection  between  the  Hebrews  and  Mesopotamia : 
Schrader's  "Die   Keil-inschriften   und  das  Alte   Testament," 
Giessen,  1883;  Lenormant's  "Les  Origines  de  PHistoire,"  &c., 
2  vols.,  Paris,  1880, 1882,  and  English  translation  of  vol.  i.,  N.Y., 
1882;  George  Smith's  "Chaldean  Genesis,"  edited  by  Sayce; 
and  Duncker's  "  History  of  Antic^uioy,"  English  translation,  4 
vols.,  London,  1877. 

5.  For  later  stories  of  the  patriarchs:  Baring-Gould's  "Leg- 
ends of  Old-Testament  Characters,"  London  and  New  York, 
1871;  Weil's  "Biblical  Legends  of  the  Mussulmans,"  English 
translation,  New  York,  1863. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Name  the  races  of  the  earth.    What  are  the  three  Caucasian  families? 
What  nations  compose  the  Semitic  family? 

2.  Where  did  the  Semites  live  in  the  earliest  times?    Why  did  they 
move  westward  ?    Which  of  the  Semites  first  came  to  Canaan?    About  what 
time  did  the  Israelites  first  enter  Canaan?    What  nations  were  their  nearest 
kinsfolk,  that  is,  what  nations  besides  the  Israelites  were  included  under  the 
name  Hebrews?    Were  the  Israelites  made  up  of  several  different  bodies  of 
immigrants?    Did  it  require  time  to  weld  these  together? 

3.  What  is  a  nomadic  life?    W^hat  sort  of  government  did  the  Hebrews 
have  at  first?    What  laws?    What  sort  of  property?    How  did  they  buy 
and  sell  ?    Did  they  have  books?    What  people  now  resemble  them? 

4.  Were  the  Israelites  destined  to  accomplish  a  great  work?    Did  the 
religion  of  Israel  have  to  grow  as  a  child  grows  to  be  a  man?    Did  the 
people  at  first  worship  stocks  and  stones?    Afterwards,  what  gods  did  they 
have?    In  this  early  period  did  they  worship  Yah  we? 

5.  Did  the  Israelites  at  first  have  temples?  —  priests?    What  sacrifices 
did  they  offer? 

6.  What  language  did  they  speak?    Is  it  like  English? 


LESSON    II. 

THE    ISRAELITES  IN  EGYPT. 

1.  The  Greatness  of  the  Egyptians.  —  In  those  early  times, 
namely,  about  B.C.  2000-1200,  the  Egyptians  were  the  greatest 
nation  of  the  world.  They  had  already  been  a  settled  people, 
with  a  regular  kingly  government,  for  many  centuries,  perhaps 


14  THE    HISTORY   OP   THE 

from  as  far  back  as  about  B.C.  4000;  and  now  they  had  a  flour- 
ishing civilization,  and  a  remarkable  and,  in  some  respects, 
noble  system  of  religion.-  They  had  conquered  most  of  the  tribes 
dwelling  around  them  in  Africa,  and  carried  their  arms  into  Asia, 
along  the  shore  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  and  eastward  up  to 
the  Euphrates;  they  had  built  pyramids,  temples,  and  palaces; 
their  wise  men  studied  art  and  science,  and  wrote  books,  for  the 
Egyptians  had  invented  or  developed  a  system  of  writing  (the 
hieroglyphic)  sufficient  for  the  expression  of  all  their  ideas. 

2.  The  Fertility  of  Egypt.  Dependence  of  the  Desert 
Tribes  on  it.  —  Ancient  Egypt  was  so  fertile,  thanks  to  the 
annual  overflow  of  the  Nile,  that  it  was  considered  the  granary 
of  Western  Asia,  as  it  was,  in  later  times,  of  Rome;  it  seemed 
to  produce  corn  enough  for  all  the  world.  In  those  days,  how- 
ever, there  was  little  commerce,  and  it  often  happened  that  in 
times  of  scarcity  of  provisions,  a  tribe,  instead  of  sending  ships 
or  caravans,  would  leave  its  home  and  go  where  it  could  find 
food.  So  it  was  with  the  wandering  tribes  who  dwelt  just  east 
of  Egypt  on  the  borders  of  the  Arabian  desert.  Their  country 
was  not  very  productive,  they  had  only  rude  means  of  tilling 
the  soil,  and  they  were  not  infrequently  exposed  to  the  danger 
of  famine.  At  such  times  they  would  move  nearer  to  Egypt, 
where  they  could  exchange  their  flocks  and  herds  for  wheat. 
The  Egyptians,  on  their  part,  were  not  sorry  to  have  friendly 
tribes  settled  on  their  northeastern  border,  for  these  served  as  an 
out-post  and  a  protection  against  the  bedawin  (desert- tribes)  and 
other  Asiatic  peoples  with  whom  Egypt  was  often  at  war.  These 
visiting  tribes  became  dependent  allies  of  the  Egyptians,  with 
whom  they  naturally  entered  into  more  or  less  close  relations ; 
we  find  accounts  in  the  Egyptian  writings  of  bedawin  chiefs 
who  attained  high  position  in  the  Egyptian  government.  But 
it  is  probable  that  such  tribes  would  give  up  their  old  habits 
and  lose  their  distinctive  character,  in  proportion  as  they  became 
united  with  their  more  civilized  neighbors. 

3.  The  Israelites  in  Goshen.  —  It  seems  that  among  others 
the  Israelites  were  driven  down  into  Egypt  by  famine.  It  is  pos- 


RELIGION   OP    ISRAEL.  15 

sible  that  this  happened  more  than  once;  for,  in  Gen.  xii.  10, 
it  is  said  that  Abraham  went  thither  when  there  was  a  grievous 
famine  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  This,  however,  would  be  only 
a  passing  visit;  at  a  later  period  the  people  went  to  stay.  Of 
this  we  have  an  account  in  the  book  of  Genesis  (chapter 
xlvi.),  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  its  general  correctness,, 
though  the  migration  may  not  have  happened  exactly  as  it 
is  there  narrated.  Instead  of  a  family  (Jacob's),  moving  into 
the  land  by  invitation  of  the  viceroy  or  chief  officer  (Joseph), 
we  must  rather  think  of  them  as  a  tribe  wandering  from  place 
to  place,  and  corning  at  last,  as  other  tribes  did,  to  the  fertile 
region  of  Goshen,  where  they  were  allowed  to  settle  by  the 
Egyptian  government.  It  may  be  that  one  of  their  number 
became  a  great  officer  under  the  king,  and  that  this  fact  pro- 
longed their  stay  in  Egypt.  But,  according  to  our  present 
information,  this  must  be  looked  on  as  uncertain.  These 
stories  in  Genesis  were  committed  to  writing  long  after  those 
times,  when  the  memory  of  the  events  was  not  clear,  and  addi- 
tions had  been  made  to  the  original  facts,  as  so  commonly 
happens  in  popular  traditions.  All  that  we  need  say  is  that, 
whether  or  not  the  beautiful  and  instructive  story  of  Joseph  is 
simple  history,  the  Israelites  did  probably  go  to  live  in  Goshen. 
We  do  not  know  certainly  at  what  time  they  went,  or  how  long 
they  stayed,  or  what  happened  to  them  there,  or  -how  they  came 
to  go  back  to  Canaan.  The  situation  of  the  land  of  Goshen, 
where  they  are  said  to  have  lived,  is  also  uncertain ;  but  it  was 
probably  the  border-land  between  Egypt  and  Canaan  and  Ara- 
bia, and  large  enough  to  furnish  pasturage  for  the  Israelites  and 
for  such  other  tribes  as  may  have  been  dwelling  there  at  the 
same  time.  This  region  was  admirably  suited  for  pastoral  life, 
and  we  know  from  Egyptian  accounts  that  it  was  occupied  by 
pastoral  tribes. 

4.  How  the  Israelites  lived  in  Goshen.  —  We  may  sup- 
pose that  the  mode  of  existence  of  the  Israelites  in  Goshen  was 
not  materially  different  from  what  it  had  been  in  Canaan.  They 
fed  their  flocks  and  cultivated  the  ground,  and  occasionally, 
perhaps,  made  marauding  expeditions  into  the  neighboring 


16  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

regions  of  Arabia  and  Canaan.  They  would  probably  inter- 
marry somewhat  with  the  other  pastoral  tribes,  and  with  the 
Egyptians.  But  they  seem  to  have  substantially  preserved  their 
own  habits  and  institutions.  We  find  in  their  later  history 
almost  no  traces  of  borrowing  from  the  Egyptians,  which  they 
would  probably  have  done  if  they  had  lived  in  close  social  inter- 
course with  them.  It  seems  more  likely,  therefore,  that  they 
remained  separate  from  their  neighbors,  and  retained  the  social 
laws  and  religious  customs  which  they  brought  with  them  from 
Canaan,  as  has  been  described  in  Lesson  I.  In  the  next  Lesson 
we  shall  speak  more  particularly  of  their  religious  history  at  this 
time,  but  here  we  must  mention  one  custom  which  they  possibly 
took  from  the  Egyptians,  that  is,  the  institution  of  circumcision, 
which  was  afterwards  to  become  so  important  a  part  of  their 
religious  life.  This  custom  existed  among  the  Egyptians 
(though  to  what  extent  we  do  not  know),  and  also  among  other 
African  peoples,  while  the  Israelites  seem  to  have  been  the  only 
Canaanite  people  who  practised  it.  It  is  found  among  the 
Arabs  after  the  beginning  of  our  era,  but  it  is  not  known  when 
they  adopted  it.  We  know  of  no  Asiatic  people  from  whom 
the  Israelites  could  have  got  it,  and  so  it  seems  likely  that  they 
took  it  from  the  Egyptians,  perhaps  during  that  first  visit  to 
Egypt  which  is  hinted  at  in  the  story  of  Abraham  (Gen.  xii.). 
At  any  rate,  the  custom  was  already  established  among  them 
when  they  departed  from  Egypt  to  return  to  Canaan,  and  suc- 
ceeding times  regarded  it  as  having  been  enjoined  on  the  stem- 
father  Abraham  by  God  (El-Shaddai,  Gen.  xvii.).  On  some 
other  things  possibly  borrowed  from  the  Egyptians,  see  Lesson 
III.  4. 

5.  The  Israelites  forced  into  Hard  Labor  by  the 
Egyptians.  —  At  first,  as  it  would  seem,  the  Egyptians  left  their 
pastoral  neighbors  to  themselves.  But  after  a  while  the  Egyp- 
tian king,  according  to  the  Israelitish  account  (Ex.  i.), 
determined  to  make  use  of  them  in  certain  great  public  works 
in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  accordingly  pressed  them  into 
service  to  aid  in  the  building  of  several  cities.  From  the  name 
of  one  of  these  cities,  Rameses  (Ex.  i.  11)  it  has  been  con- 


RELIGION   OF    ISRAEL.  IT 

jectured  that  the  king  who  thus  forced  the  Israelites  into  hard 
labor  was  Rameses  II.  of  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  one  of  the 
most  famous  of  the  Egyptian  princes.  He  was  a  great  builder, 
and  the  general  circumstances  of  his  reign  are  not  unfavorable 
to  the  supposition  that  his  allies  were  forced  to  become  his 
workmen.  If  this  view  is  correct,  we  may  put  the  beginning  of 
the  oppression  somewhere  near  the  year  1400  B.C.,  and  we  may 
suppose  that  it  lasted  sixty  or  eighty  years,  into  the  reign  of 
Menephtah,  the  son  and  successor  of  Rameses.  It  was  during 
this  period  that,  according  to  the  account  in  Exodus  (chapter  ii.), 
Moses,  the  future  deliverer  of  his  people,  was  born. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On   trie  history   and  manners   and   customs   of   Egypt: 
Brugsch's  "  History  of  Egypt,"    English  translation,  London, 
1879,  gives  numerous  extracts  from  the  Egyptian  inscriptions; 
Duncker's  "History  of  Antiquity  "  is  a  convenient  and  generally 
sound  work;  Rawlinson's  "  History  of  Egypt,"  2  vols.,  London 
and  New  York,  1881,  is  well  arranged  and  clear,  but  not  always 
reliable;    Wilkinson's    "  Ancient   Egyptians,"    London,    1878, 
gives  full  details  of  manners   and  customs.     Other  books   are 
Chevallier  and  Lenormant's  "  Ancient  History  of  the  East,"  2 
vols.;  Maspero's  "  Histoire  Ancienne  des  Peuples  de  1' Orient," 
Paris,  1875. 

2.  On   the    Egyptian    religion:    the   works   of    Wilkinson, 
Duncker,  and  Rawlinson  above  mentioned  (Rawlinson's  expla- 
nations are  generally  unsatisfactory) ;  Le  Page  Renouf,  Hibbert 
Lectures,  1879,  "The   Religion  of   Ancient   Egypt;"    Tiele's 
"Histoire    Comparee "    (mentioned   in    Lesson   I.),    and    his 
"Egyptian  Religion,"  1882  (in.  the  English  and  Foreign  Philo- 
sophical Library). 

3.  On  the  Egyptian  language  and  literature:  "Hieroglyphic 
Grammar"  in  vol.  v.  of  Bunsen's  "Egypt's  Place  in  Univer- 
sal  History,"    English  translation,    London,    1867;    Brugsch's 
"GrammaireHieroglyphique,"  Leipzig,  1872,  and  Woerterbuch, 
Leipzig,  1867-1881 ;  Renouf 's  "Elementary  Grammar,"  London, 
1875;  "  Funereal  Ritual,"  in  Bunsen,  vol.  v.  above  mentioned; 

2 


18  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

"  Records  of  the  Past,"  vols.  2,  4,  6,  8, 10,  12,  London,  1874-1881, 
translations  of  Egyptian  texts. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  At  what  time  were  the  Egyptians  the  greatest  nation  of  the  world  ? 
What  territory  had  they  conquered  and  overrun  ?    What  had  they  built? 
—  and  written? 

2.  Why  did  the  bedawin  go  to  Egypt  for  food?     If  they  settled  on  the 
border,  what  was  their  relation  to  the  Egyptians?    Would  they  learn  some- 
thing of  Egyptian  civilization? 

3.  Did  the  Israelites  go  to  live  near  Egypt?    Do  we  know  exactly  when 
and  how  they  went?  —  or  exactly  where  Goshen  was?    Do  you  know  the 
story  of  Joseph  ?    Are  we  sure  that  it  is  exact  history?    When  were  these 
traditions  committed  to  writing?    Was  the  country  on  the  border  suited  to 
a  pastoral  life  ? 

4.  What  were  the  occupations  of  the  Israelites  in  Goshen?     Did  they 
intermarry  with  their  neighbors?    Did  they  borrow  any  customs  from  the 
Egyptians? 

5.  Did  the  Egyptians  at  first  interfere  with  the  Israelites  in  Goshen? 
Why  did  they  afterwards  force  them  to  work?     What  labor  were  they  made 
to  perform  ?    Do  we  know  how  long  this  oppression  lasted  ? 


LESSON    III. 

THE   EXODUS   AND  MOSES. 

1.   Bible  Account  of  Moses  and  the  Exodus.  —  We  may 

probably  look  on  it  as  an  historical  fact  that  the  Israelitish  tribes 
at  a  certain  time  (perhaps  about  B.C.  1330)  left  the  frontiers  of 
Egypt,  and  made  their  way  towards  Canaan  ;  but  we  know  little 
of  the  particulars  of  the  movement.  The  story  in  Exodus 
(chapters  ii.  -xiv.)  tells  us  of  the  event  as  pious  Israelites  long 
afterwards  thought  of  it,  but  we  cannot  be  sure  that  their  recol- 
lection was  correct.  Many  of  the  particulars  given  in  the  nar- 
rative are  improbable.  God  did  indeed  lead  them  out,  though 
not  in  the  way  there  described.  According  to  the  Israelitish 
account,  Moses,  hidden  while  an  infant  by  his  parents  to  save 


RELIGION   OF  ISRAEL.  19 

him  from  the  king's  cruel  command  that  all  Hebrew  male  chil- 
dren should  be  put  to  death,  was  found  and  adopted  by  the 
king's  daughter,  brought  up  in  the  court,  and,  it  was  afterwards 
added,  educated  in  all  Egyptian  learning  (Acts  vii.  22).  But, 
when  he  was  forty  years  old,  having  killed  an  Egyptian  -officer 
who  was  maltreating  a  Hebrew,  he  had  to  fly  for  his  life.  He 
took  refuge  in  Midian,  on  the  east  of  Egypt,  where  he  married 
the  daughter  of  the  priest  Jethro,  and  remained  forty  years 
engaged  in  tending  his  father-in-law's  flocks.  At  the  end  of 
that  time  he  was  sent  by  God  back  to  Egypt  to  bring  his  people 
out.  Here,  with  his  brother  Aaron,  he  called  down  ten  terrible 
plagues  on  the  Egyptians,  and  so  forced  them  to  let  the  Israelites 
go.  He  led  them  forth,  first  to  Mount  Sinai  in  Arabia,  where 
he  received  the  Law  from  God  (books  of  Exodus,  Leviticus,  and 
Numbers)  and  gave  it  to  the  people  ;  thence  they  wandered 
nearly  forty  years  in  the  wilderness  (book  of  Numbers)  after 
which  they  approached  Canaan  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan, 
Moses  made  a  farewell  address  (book  of  Deuteronomy)  and,  just 
before  the  people  crossed  the  river,  ascended  Mount  Pisgah,  and 
there  died  alone  and  was  buried  by  God. 

2.  The  Exodus  and  the  March  to  Canaan.  —  There  are 
many  reasons  why  we  cannot  think  that  this  narrative  gives  a 
veritable  history  of  the  events  ;  some  of  these  reasons  will 
appear  in  the  course  of  our  Lessons.  Yet  we  must  suppose  that 
the  Israelites  somehow  reached  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  con- 
quered it,  and  that  Moses  was  really  a  great  leader  and  instructor 
of  his  countrymen.  It  is  not  very  important  for  us  to  know 
exactly  what  he  did,  and  what  the  history  of  the  Israelites  was 
during  their  march  to  Canaan.  This  is  the  period  of  their 
childhood,  and  we  shall  be  more  interested  in  studying  their 
later  years.  So  for  the  present  we  may  be  satisfied  with  saying 
that  the  tribes  probably  led  a  nomadic  life  for  some  years,  dur- 
ing which  time  Moses  taught  them  as  he  had  opportunity, 
organizing  their  civil  and  religious  institutions,  and  preparing 
them  for  their  succeeding  life  in  Canaan.  It  is  hard  to  say  how 
long  they  wandered  about  before  entering  their  new  abode,  — 
\t  may  have  been  two  years,  it  may  have  been  forty, — but  it 


20  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE 

seems  to  have  been  long  enough  to  mould  them  in  some  fashion 
into  one  people.  It  does  not  appear  that  they  gained  many  new 
religious  ideas  during  this  time.  But  here  we  must  say  a  word 
about  Moses  and  his  work. 

3.  The  Traditional  Account  of  the  Origin  of  the  Law  of 
Israel.  —  As  our  Old  Testament  is  now  arranged,  Moses  is  rep- 
resented as  having  received  from  God  and  given  to  his  people 
at  Sinai  nearly  the  whole  of  the  religious  law  by  which  they  were 
guided  down  to  the  time  of  the  coming  of  Christ.     This  is  con- 
tained in  the  books  of  Exodus,  Leviticus,  and  Numbers;  then 
in  Deuteronomy  we  find  certain  additions  wrhich  he  is  said  to 
have  given  thirty-eight  years  later,  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Jordan.     But  we  cannot  take  the  account  literally.     The  book 
of  Kings  and  the  writings  of  the  prophets  do  not  represent  even 
the  best  of  the  people  as  acquainted  with  the  Pentateuchal  legis- 
lation down  to  the  Exile.      The  law  grew  up  gradually,  and 
hundreds  of  years  after  Moses,  when  pious  prophets  and  priests 
gathered  together  the  religious  usages  of  their  times,  they  thought 
that  it  must  all  have  been  revealed  in  the  beginning  by  the  God 
of  Israel,  and  so  they  came  to  believe  that  their  great  deliverer 
from  Egyptian  bondage  had  received  it  all  at  once.    But  we  shall 
see  that  the  succeeding  history  does  not  bear  this  out.     The  be- 
ginning of  Israel's  life  was  feeble;  we  shall  try  to  follow  it  out 
to  its  grand  ending.     We  commence  with  Moses. 

4.  What  the  Early  Prophets  said  of  Moses.     Whether 
he  borrowed  anything  from  the  Egyptians.  —  In  the  days 
of  the  prophet  Hosea,  about  750  B.C.,  it  was  believed  that  God 
had  delivered  Israel  from  Egypt  by  the  hand  of  one  of  his  ser- 
vants :    "  By  a  prophet,"  says  he,  "  the  Lord  brought  Israel  out 
of  Egypt"  (Hos.  xii.  13).     Who  this  prophet  was,  he  does  not 
say,  but  we  cannot  doubt  that  he  was  thinking  of  Moses.     The 
prophet  Micah  (about  B.C.  710)  represents  God  as  saying  :  "  I 
brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  redeemed  thee 
out  of  the  house  of  servants,  and  I  sent  before  thee  Moses,  Aaron, 
and  Miriam"  (Mic.  vi.  4).      The   prophets,    however,   tell   us 
almost  nothing  of  Moses'  life,  and  the  story  in  Exodus  is  largely 
the  tradition  of  a  later  time.     We  know  very  little  about  his 
;religious  faith  and  his  teaching.     It  is  uncertain  how  far  he  was 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  21 

acquainted  with  the  religious  ideas  of  the  Egyptians.  It  has 
been  supposed  that  certain  parts  of  the  Tsraelitish  worship  were 
borrowed  from  Egypt,  as  the  ark,  the  dress  and  observances  of 
the  priests,  and  the  Urim  and  Thummim  which  were  worn  on 
the  high-priest's  breast.  This  is  possible,  but  we  cannot  say 
that  Moses  introduced  them ;  they  may  have  been  adopted  while 
the  people  were  in  Egypt.  We  cannot  point  to  any  ethical  or 
religious  teaching  which  probably  came  to  the  Israelites  from 
the  Egyptians.  It  is  remarkable,  for  example,  that  the  two 
peoples  differed  so  much  in  their  ideas  of  the  future  life.  -  The 
Egyptians  believed  that  after  death  men  lived  as  real  a  life  as 
on  earth.  They  said  that  there  were  judges  in  the  lower  world, 
that  every  man  was  rewarded  or  punished  according  to  his  deeds 
in  this  world,  — the  wicked  suffered  terrible  tortures  ;  the  good, 
having  been  tried  and  purified,  their  souls  reunited  to  their 
bodies,  dwelt  forever  in  the  presence  of  God,  in  the  enjoyment 
of  unspeakable  happiness.  The  Israelites,  down  to  the  time  of 
the  Exile  (B.C.  585),  thought  of  the  underworld  as  a  cold,  cheer- 
less place,  where  the  dead  wandered  about,  inactive,  without 
pleasure  or  hope.  They  seem  to  have  learned  nothing  from 
the  Egyptians  in  this  respect.  Their  belief  was  the  same  as 
that  of  the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians  in  the  old  home  in 
Mesopotamia. 

5.  Israelitish  Customs  before  Moses.  —  Moses  found  the 
people  in  possession  of  certain  civil  and  religious  ideas  and 
customs.  Besides  their  simple  government  and  their  sacrifices 
(see  Lesson  I.)  they  had  probably  festival-days,  especially  in  the 
beginning  of  spring  (vernal  equinox),  midsummer,  and  in  the 
fall  (autumnal  equinox)  ;  these  afterwards  became  the  Pesach 
(Passover),  the  feast  of  weeks  (Pentecost),  and  the  feast  of 
booths  or  Tabernacles,  and  they  correspond  in  season  to  the 
Christian  festivals  of  Easter,  Whitsuntide,  and  Michaelmas. 
In  early  times,  as  far  as  we  know,  the  Hebrews  had  no  mid- 
winter (winter  solstice)  festival,  corresponding  to  our  Christmas. 
The  Israelites  also  had  a  sabbath,  a  seventh  day  of  rest  from 
work,  devoted  more  or  less  to  religious  observances.  This  they 
had  perhaps  brought  with  them  from  Mesopotamia,  where 


22  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

something  like  it  seems  to  have  been  a  custom  of  the  old 
Sumerian-Accadians.  Then  there  were  festivals  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  month  (new  moon),  and  perhaps  others.  These  and 
similar  customs  Moses  would  no  doubt  try  to  bring  under  the 
influence  of  a  purer  religious  feeling.  Whether  he  added  new 
ones,  we  cannot  tell.  Of  his  higher  religious  work  we  will  speak 
in  the  next  Lesson. 

LITERATURE. 

I/  On  the  life  and  works  of  Moses  :  Kuenen's  "Religion  of 
Israel,"  English  translation,  3  vols.,  London,  1874  ;  "  The  Bible 
for  Learners,"  by  Oort  and  Hooykaas,  English  translation,  Old 
Testament,  2  vols.,  Boston,  1878;  Knappert's  "Religion  of 
Israel  "  (an  abridged  statement  of  the  views  of  Kueneu  and  others 
of  the  latest  school  of  Old  Testament  criticism),  English  trans- 
lation, London,  1877;  Stanley's  "History  of  the  Jewish 
Church,"  Old  Testament,  2  vols.,  New  York,  1870  ;  Tiele's 
"Histoire  des  Anciennes  Religions,"  &c. 

2.  On  Egyptian  and  other  accounts  of  the  Exodus  of  the 
Israelites  :  the  histories  of  Brugsch,  Duncker,  and  Rawlinson, 
above  mentioned. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Can  you  give  the  biblical  history  of  Moses  ?    Is  it  reasonably  certain 
that  the  Israelites  at  some  time  left  the  frontiers  of  Egypt  V     What  date  is 
suggested  for  their  departure  V 

2.  Who  led  the  Israelites  from  Egypt  to  Canaan  ?     Can  we  suppose  that 
all  the  stories  about  him  in  the  Pentateuch  (that  is,  the  five  books  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Old  Testament)  are  real  history  V    If  they  are  not,  may 
they  nevertheless  be  instructive  ?    How  did  the  Israelites  live  on  the  march 
to  Canaan  ?     Did  Moses  instruct  them  during  this  time  ? 

3.  What  books  of  the  Old  Testament  contain  what  is  called  the  "  Law  of 
Moses  "  ?     When  did  the  Israelites  suppose  that  this  was  given  ?    Was  the 
law  made  all  at  once,  or  gradually?     Was  it  natural  that  people  should 
think  in  later  times  that  God  gave  all  the  religious  law  to  Moses? 

4.  What  did  Hosea  say  of  Moses  ?    What  did  Micah  say  ?    How  long 
was  this  after  Moses'  time  ?    What  things  may  the  Israelites  possibly  have 
got  from  the  Egyptians  ?    Did  they  get  any  ideas  of  the  future  life  ?    What 
was  the  Egyptian  idea  of  the  life  hereafter  ?    What  was  the  ancient  Israel- 
itish  idea  ? 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  23 


5.  What  civil  government  did  the  Israelites  have  before  the  time  of 
Moses?  What  sacrifices?  What  festivals ?  Did  they  have  a  seventh  day 
of  rest  (sabbath)  ?  Did  Moses  establish  any  new  civil  or  religious  obser- 
vances ? 


LESSON   IV. 

MOSES  AND  YAHWE  (JEHOVAH). 

1.   Yahwe,  the  God  of  Israel.    His  Original  Character. — 

Though,  down  to  the  Babylonian  Exile  (B.C.  585-535),  the 
Israelites  in  Canaan  worshipped  various  deities,  yet  we  know 
that,  all  this  time,  their  real  national  god  was  Yahwe  (Jehovah), 
and  that  after  the  Exile  they  gave  up  all  others  and  served  only 
him.  At  first  Yahwe  was  only  one  deity  among  many.  But, 
as  is  so  often  the  case  with  things  that  go  very  far  back  in  time, 
we  do  not  know  whence  the  name  came  and  what  it  originally 
signified.  It  is  almost  certain  that  the  right  pronunciation  is 
Yahwe  and  not  Jehovah,  and  so  we  may  call  it  when  we  are 
speaking  of  the  deity  that  the  Israelites  claimed  as  their  own, 
as  the  Moabites  claimed  Kemosh  (Chemosh),  and  the  Philistines, 
Dagon  ;  when  we  mean  the  one  God,  the  Creator  and  Father  of 
all,  as  Israel  afterwards  learned  to  know  him,  we  may  call  him 
The  Lord,  as  the  name  is  rendered  in  our  English  version.  We 
must  wait  awhile  before  we  can  speak  certainly  of  the  origin 
and  meaning  of  the  name  Yahwe.  As  far  as  our  present  infor- 
mation goes,  it  seems  likely  that  it  came  from  Mesopotamia  and 
belonged  to  some  deity  worshipped  there,  though  it  never  got 
wide  currency  except  in  Canaan.  From  various  expressions  in 
the  Old  Testament  we  may  infer  that  Yahwe  was  originally  a 
god  of  the  sky,  especially  of  the  thunder-storm.  This  suits  the 
fine  description  in  Ps.  xviii.  6-15  (2  Sam.  xxii.  7-16)  and  many 
other  passages,  and  the  common  Old  Testament  name,  "  The 
Lord  of  Hosts,"  that  is,  Yahwe,  the  ruler  of  the  hosts  of  stars. 
In  process  of  time  this  origin  of  the  deity  was  forgotten,  moral 


24  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

qualities  were  associated  with  him,  his  worship  was  purified, 
and  he  became  the  just  and  holy  God,  such  as  we  see  him  in 
Amos  and  the  other  prophets ;  and  finally  he  became  the  only 
God. 

2.  Whether  Moses  introduced  the  Worship  of  Yahwe. 
Whether  he  was  a  Monotheist. —  In  Ex.  vi.  2,  3,  some 
later  Israelitish  writer  represents  God  as  saying  to  Moses:  "I 
am  Yahwe.  I  appeared  to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  by  the 
name  of  El-Shaddai,  but  I  was  not  known  to  them  by  my  name 
Yahwe."  It  appears  from  this  that  some  Israelites  in  after 
times  supposed  that  the  worship  of  Yahwe  did  not  exist  among 
them  before  the  time  of  Moses.  As  has  just  been  said,  it  is 
more  probable  that  this  worship  was  very  ancient.  Nations  do 
not  easily  change  their  gods ;  it  is  not  likely  that  Moses  could  or 
would  introduce  a  new  deity.  But,  as  the  Israelites  believed 
that  he  had  made  some  great  change,  it  may  be  that  through 
his  means  the  worship  of  Yahwe  became  more  general,  became, 
in  fact,  in  a  real  sense,  the  national  worship.  This  would  not 
necessarily  mean  that  no  other  deities  were  worshipped.  Indeed, 
we  find  in  the  succeeding  history  that  this  was  not  the  case". 
Not  only  did  the  Israelites  adopt,  in  part,  the  religious  rites  of 
the  Canaanites  (as  Baal- worship  and  calf -worship),  but  for  a 
long  time  they  had  household  gods  (teraphim) ,  as  we  see  in  the 
histories  of  Micah  (Judges  xvii.)  and  David  (1  Sam.  xix.  13), 
and  in  ""the  writings  of  the  prophets  (Hos.  iii.  4).  Still  less 
would  it  mean  that  there  was  only  one  God,  that  is,  that  all 
other  pretended  gods  were  nothing.  This  is  what  we  believe, 
and  what  the  later  Israelites  (about  the  time  of  the  Exile  and 
on)  believed;  but  David  and  generations  after  him  thought  that 
Kemosh  and  Dagon  and  the  rest  were  real  gods,  only  not 
gods  of  Israel.  Exactly  what  Moses'  belief  was,  we  do  not 
know.  Probably,  it  may  be  said,  he  thought,  as  people  in  his 
day  generally  did,  that  there  were  a  great  many  gods,  that  each 
nation  had  its  own  deity  or  deities.  But  he  wished  Israel  to 
worship  only  Yahwe.  And,  in  point  of  fact,  they  did  remain 
in  general  faithful  to  Yahwe,  till  at  last  they  abandoned  all 
others. 


RELIGION    OP   ISRAEL.  25 

3.  Is  the  Decalogue  Monotheistic  ?  —  But  does  not  the 
Decalogue  (the  Ten  Commandments)  require  monotheism,  the 
worship  of  one  God  ?  As  to  this,  we  must  observe  two  things : 
first,  the  Decalogue  appears  to  teach  not  that  there  are  no  gods 
besides  Yahwe,  but  that  none  but  him  is  to  be  worshipped  by 
Israel:  UI  am  Yahwe,  thy  God,  who  brought  thee  forth  from 
the  land  of  Egypt;  thou  shalt  not  have  other  gods  beside  me  " 
(Ex.  xx.  2,  3) ;  secondly,  we  cannot  be  sure  that  it  was 
Moses  who  wrote  down  these  Commandments,  as  we  now  find 
them  in  the  Old  Testament.  Indeed,  it  is  almost  certain  that 
he  did  not  write  them ;  for  there  are  two  versions  of  them, 
one  in  Ex.  xx.  2-17,  the  other  in  Deut.  v.  6-18;  and  these 
differ  so  much  the  one  from  the  other  (namely,  in  the  ground 
given  for  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath),  that  Moses  could 
hardly  have  written  both.  So  it  is  more  likely  that  they  were 
written  down  after  Moses'  time.  If  he  wrote  any  command- 
ments the  record  has  been  lost. 

4.  Moses'  Work  Uncertain.  —  If  we  cannot  suppose  that 
the  Pentateuch  (the  "  five  books  of  Moses")  is  correct  history, 
then  we  do  not  know  precisely  what  Moses  did  for  his  people. 
Did  he  try  to  make  them  more  humane  as  well  as  more  spiritual? 
It  seems  that  in  those  days  they  were  half  barbarians ;  was  Moses 
a  reformer  like  the  Athenian  Solon?  It  is  hard  to  say.  In  the 
times  of  the  Judges,  the  Israelites  seem  sometimes  to  have  offered 
human  sacrifices  to  Yahwe ;  so  Jephtha  is  said  to  have  offered  up 
his  daughter  (Judges  xi.  30,  31,  34-40).  But  they  may  have 
learned  this  from  the  Canaanites;  it  is  not  certain  that  they 
practised  it  in  Moses'  time,  and  we  cannot  tell  whether  he  tried 
to  abolish  it.  And  as  to  gods,  we  do  not  know  what  other 
deities  besides  Yahwe  the  Israelites  now  worshipped  (see  Lesson 
I.),  nor  their  customs  of  sacrifice,  nor  their  ethical  ideas.  We 
infer  certain  things  from  the  Old  Testament,  but  our  knowledge 
is  not  accurate  or  sure. 

5.  What  Moses  probably  did.  —  From  all  that  we  do 
know,  we  are  led  to  believe  that  what  Moses  did  was  rather  to 
organize  the  people  and  give  them  an  impulse  in  religion,  than 
to  frame  any  code  of  laws  or  make  any  great  change  in  their 
institutions.  In  after  years  it  became  the  fashion  to  think  of 


26  THE    HISTORY    OP   THE 

him  as  the  author  of  almost  all  the  religious  customs  of  the  land, 
as  the  divinely  appointed  lawgiver  who  received  his  instruction 
(Tora  the  Israelites  called  it)  from  the  mouth  of  Yahwe  him- 
self. But  it  is  not  very  important  for  us  to  be  able  to  say  that 
Moses  did  just  this  and  that.  Under  the  guidance  of  God,  Israel 
grew  in  wisdom,  and  worked  out  a  great  Tora,  an  instruction  in 
righteousness ;  and  it  matters  little  to  us  whether  it  was  Moses 
or  somebody  else  who  had  the  chief  part  in  it.  But  it  is  prob- 
able that  he  was  a  great  man,  and  did  much  for  his  people. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  work  of  Moses:  the  books  of  Kuenen  and  Stanley 
before  mentioned,  and  the  u  Bible  for  Learners;  "  Tiele's  "  His- 
toire  Comparee,"  pp.  356  f. 

2.  On  the  origin   and  meaning  of   the  name  Yahwe:  the 
Hebrew  lexicons;  Friedrich  Delitzsch's  u  Wo  lag  das  Paradies?  " 
Leipzig,  1881,  pp.  160  ff.;  Tiele's  "  Histoire  Comparee,"  &c., 
pp.  347-351;  J.  H.  Allen's  "Hebrew  Men  and  Times." 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Did  the  Israelites  worship  many  gods  ?    Did  they,  however,  have  their 
own  especial  deity  ?     What  was  his  name  V     What  does  our  English  version 
usually  call  him  ?    How  did  the  Israelites  originally  think  of  him  ?    How 
did  they  regard  him  in  later  times  when  they  had  better  ideas  of  religion  ? 

2.  Did  some  later  Israelites  think  that  the  worship  of  Yahwe  did  not 
exist  among  the  people  before  the  time  of   Moses  ?    In  what  passage  of 
Exodus  is  this  said  ?     Is  it  probable  that  this  was  so  ?    What  may  we  suppose 
Moses  did  in  this  respect  ?    Where  do  we  read  that  the  Israelites  worshipped 
teraphim  ?     Would  it  mean  that  they  believed  in  one  only  God  ?     Did  Moses 
probably  believe  in  one  God  just  as  we  do  ?    What  did  he  wish?     Did  they 
do  this  ?     Would  this  mean  that  no  other  deities  were  worshipped? 

3.  What  is  the  Decalogue  ?     Where  is  it  written  ?    What  does  it  say 
about  worshipping  Yahwe  V    Does  that  mean  that  the  Israelites  believed  in 
only  one  God?    Did  Moses  write  the  Decalogue  in  its  present  form?     What 
is  the  difference  between  its  two  forms  in  Deuteronomy  and  Exodus?    Does 
it  make  any  difference  in  the  value  of  the  Decalogue,  whether  Moses  wrote 
it  ?    [Certain ly  not.] 

4.  What  is  the  Pentateuch  ?    Have  we  any  knowledge  of  Moses  except 
from  the  Pentateuch  ?    Is  that  certainly  correct  ?     Do  we  know  exactly  what 
Moses  did  for  his  people  ?    Can  you  give  the  story  of  Jephthah's  daughter  ? 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  27 

Was  that  before  or  after  Moses'  time  ?    Do  we  know  whether  the  Israelites 
offered  human  sacrifices  in  the  time  of  Moses  ? 

5.  What  should  we  say  that  Moses  did  ?  What  did  the  people  afterwards 
think  of  him?  Does  it  matter  very  much  whether  God  taught  Israel  by 
Moses  or  by  some  other  man  V 


LESSON    V. 

THE  CONQUEST  AND  THE  JUDGES. 

1.  The  March  from  Goshen  to  Canaan.  —  After  leaving 
Egypt  the  Israelites  seem  to  have  moved  from  place  to  place 
in  the  northern  part  of  Arabia,  where  they  spent  some  time 
before  reaching  Canaan.  Their  route  is  described  in  a  general 
way  in  the  books  of  Deuteronomy  (i.-iii.,  and  x.  6,  7),  Exodus 
(xiv.-xix.),  and  Numbers  (x.-xiv.,  xx.-xxii.)  ;  and  there  is  a 
list  of  stations  (an  itinerary)  in  Num.  xxxiii.  But  these  were 
written  so  long  after  the  events  occurred  that  we  cannot  rely  on 
their  correctness.  Whether,  on  leaving  Goshen,  they  crossed 
the  upper  part  of  the  Red  Sea,  or  skirted  the  Sirbonian  lake,  or 
went  some  other  way,  there  is  at  present  no  means  of  determin- 
ing. There  was  in  later  times  a  firm  belief  among  the  Israelites 
that  they  had  spent  some  time  at  Mount  Sinai  in  the  peninsula 
called  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans  Arabia  Petrsea,  and  that 
there  the  Law  was  given  by  God  through  Moses.  We  know  now 
that  it  was  not  there  that  God  gave  Israel  its  law  ;  but  the 
people,  or  a  part  of  them,  may  have  stayed  there  awhile.  Thence 
they  marched  northward  towards  the  Dead  Sea,  and  perhaps 
approached  their  new  land  in  two  divisions,  one  on  the  east,  and 
one  on  the  west  of  the  sea.  Of  the  first  division,  some  (Reuben, 
Gad,  and  a  part  of  Manasseh)  settled  in  the  pasture-land  on  the 
east  of  the  Jordan  ;  and  others  (Ephraim,  part  of  Manasseh, 
and  other  tribes)  crossed  the  river  and  occupied  the  middle  and 
northern  parts  of  Canaan.  The  second  division  (Judah,  Ben- 
jamin, and  Simeon)  came  in  at  the  south,  and  took  possession 
of  that  region.  We  cannot  say  certainly  that  this  was  their 


28  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

course,  but  there  is  some  probability  in  this  view.  Having  got 
a  foothold  in  the  land,  they  fought  their  way  from  place  to  place. 
They  were  often  beaten  by  the  various  Canaanite  tribes,  but 
they  grew  stronger  and  stronger,  and  at  last,  after  a  considerable 
time,  became  masters  of  the  greater  part  of  the  country.  For- 
tunately for  the  Israelites,  the  Canaanites  were  not  united 
among  themselves,  and  so  the  invaders  conquered  them  one  by 
one.  Besides,  it  seems  probable  that  the  people  of  the  land  had 
been  weakened  by  the  attacks  of  the  Egyptians  and  the  Hittites. 
(Compare  the  Saxon  conquest  of  Britain.) 

2.  The  Book  of  Joshua.  —  The  history  of  the  conquest  and 
division  of  Canaan  by  Israel  is  contained  in  the  book  of  Joshua, 
the  latter  half  of   which  has  therefore  been  called  the   Israel- 
itish  Domesday-Book  (Stanley's  "Jewish  Church,"  i.  p.  289). 
The  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament  are  generally  made 
up  of  extracts  from  earlier  writings,  the  whole  being  then  re- 
vised by  the  author  or  editor.     So  it  is  with  the  book  of  Joshua. 
It  seems  to   contain   some   old  traditions  (xxiv.  2)  and  some 
early  lists  of  places  (xii.-xix.)  ;  but  it  was  composed  at  about  the 
same  time  with  the  books  of  Exodus  and  Numbers,  that  is,  after 
the  Babylonian  Exile.     We  find  in  it  religious  ideas  which  were 
probably  not  established  in  Israel  till  this  late  period.     Such 
are  the  references  to  the  priests  (iii.,  iv.)  and  the  Levites  (xxi.)  ; 
Josh.  i.  6,  7  is  like  Deut.  iv.  6,  9,  40,  v.  32,  and  Josh.  i.  8  is 
like  Ps.  i.  2.     So  the  book  appears  to  be  a  late  production  based 
on   some  earlier  traditions,  and  we   cannot  look  on   it   as   an 
accurate  history  of  the  conquest.     The  great  general  and  con- 
queror Joshua  is  himself  a  shadowy  character.     He  was  probably 
an  able  military  leader,  though  he  did  not  make  all  the  conquests 
ascribed  to  him  in  this  book.      For  from  the  book  itself  and 
from  Judges  we  learn  that  after  his  death  much  of  the  land 
remained  to  be  possessed  (Josh,  xxiii.  4,  Judg.  i.). 

3.  The   Time  of  the   Judges.  —  As  soon  as  the  Israelites 
had  settled  in  their  new  possession,  they  began  to  cultivate  the 
soil,  build  cities,  and  form  a  more  regular  government.     They 
had  their  elders  and  tribe-princes  as  before,  but  there  was  no 


RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL.  29 

ruler  over  the  whole  nation.  The  tribes  were  separate  and  not 
always  friendly  to  one  another.  Those  dwelling  on  the  east  of 
the  Jordan  led  a  pastoral  life,  and  had  little  to  do  with  their 
brethren  on  the  west  of  the  river.  These  latter  were  divided 
into  two  parts  :  the  northern  tribes  followed  the  lead  of  Ephraim, 
and  the  southern  the  lead  of  Judah;  and  Judah  and  Ephraim 
were  rivals.  When  any  part  of  the  country  was  attacked  by 
enemies,  the  tribes  of  that  region  joined  together  for  the  time 
being  for  defence.  They  would  choose  a  general  to  lead  them 
against  the  enemy,  and,  after  peace  was  restored,  the  general 
would  become  a  judge  or  civil  ruler  over  that  part  of  the  land  ; 
but  other  parts  of  the  country  would  not  obey  him.  So  it  went 
on  for  a  long  time,  till  Saul  was  made  king. 

4.  The  Book  of  Judges. —  The  history  of  this  period,  from 
the  death  of  Joshua  to  the  death  of  Samson  and  the  rise  of 
Samuel,  is  given  us  in  the  book  of  Judges.     This  book  was 
probably  written  during  the  Babylonian  Exile  by  a  prophetic 
man,  who  gathered  up  the  writings  and  traditions  of  his  time, 
and  then  composed  the  history  according  to  the  ideas  of  the 
pious  people  of  that  day.     When  we  come  to  examine  it,  we  see 
that  it  naturally  divides  itself  into  four  parts  :  1.    Some  partic- 
ulars of  the  conquest  (i.,  ii.  1-9)  ;  2.    A  religious  explanation  of 
the  successes  and  reverses  of  the  nation  (ii.  10-23)  ;  3.    A  his- 
tory of  various  judges  (iii.-xvi.)  ;  4.    Some  special  incidents  of 
the  period  (xvii.-xxi.).     Much  of  this  is  no  doubt  valuable  tradi- 
tion, though  it  is  mixed  with  popular  stories  (legends)  that  are 
not  real  history. 

5.  The  Principal  Judges.  —  Several  of  the  narratives  in  the 
book  are  very  interesting.     Once,  when  the  northern  tribes  had 
been  conquered  by  a  Canaanitish  king  named  Jabin,  they  were 
delivered  by  the  prophetess  Deborah  (whose  name  means  "  bee  ") 
and  her  general  Barak  ("lightning")  (iv.).      This  victory  is 
celebrated  in  a  very  fine  war-ode  (v.),  which  it  is  said  Deborah 
composed  (but  that  is  doubtful)  ;  one  is  sorry,  though  not  sur- 
prised, to  see  that  the  ode  praises  the  Kenite  woman  Jael  for 
killing  the  Canaanite  general  Sisera,  who  in  his  flight  had  asked 


30  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

and  received  the  hospitality  of  her  tent.  Then  came 

Gideon  (vi.-viii.)  who  defeated  the  Midianites,  and  restored  his 
country's  independence.  There  was  a  popular  movement  to 
make  him  king,  but  it  did  not  succeed.  His  son 

Abimelech  (ix.)  seems  actually  to  have  reigned  a  few  years  as 
king  over  a  small  territory  near  Shechern,  his  mother's  native 
place.  It  was  her  Canaanite  kinsfolk  and  countrymen  that 
supported  him.  He  left  no  successor.  Jephthah  (xi., 

xii.)  was  a  rude  border-chieftain  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  \\lio 
crushed  the  Ammonites,  and  also  chastised  the  haughty  tribe  of 
Ephraim.  The  story  of  Samson  (xiii.-xvi.)  is  so  full  of 

legend  that  it  is  hard  to  extract  history  from  it.  Some  writers 
suppose  that  it  is  all  a  sun-myth,  like  the  story  of  Hercules.  It 
is  possible  that  it  is  a  mixture  of  history,  legend,  and  myth. 
At  the  end  of  the  book  we  have  two  important  narra- 
tives. The  first  (xvii.,  xviii.)  is  designed  to  give  the  origin  of 
the  idolatrous  sanctuary  at  Dan  in  the  north,  whose  priests,  down 
to  the  Israelitish  captivity  (B.C.  720),  were  descendants  of  a 
grandson  of  Moses  (xviii.  30,  where  for  "  Manasseh "  read 
" Moses,' J  as  the  Hebrew  text  probably  has  it).  The  second 
(xix.-xxi.)  describes  the  terrible  punishment  inflicted  by  the 
combined  tribes  on  Benjamin  for  a  crime  committed  by  some  of 
its  people. 

6.  Civil  and  Religious  Character  of  this  Period.  —  Dur- 
ing this  period  the  Israelites  wrere  still  in  a  half-civilized  state. 
They  had  no  settled  government,  and  there  was  much  lawless- 
ness and  suffering.  Their  morals  were  such  as  might  be  expected 
in  such  a  condition  of  things, — there  were  assassinations  like 
those  committed  by  Ehud  (iii.  21)  and  Jael  (iv.  21),  debauchery 
like  Samson's  (xvi.),  and  other  abominations  (xix.).  The  ideas 
of  religion  were  rude.  The  people  worshipped  ephods  and  images 
(viii.  27,  xvii.  5,  xviii.  30)  and  the  Canaanite  gods  (x.  6), 
though  Yah  we  remained  the  national  deity  (xi.  24).  Anybody 
might  act  as  priest  (vi.  26,  xvii.  5),  though  that  was  the  special 
function  of  the  Levites  (xvii.  13),  and  priests  of  the  line  of 
Aaron  are  mentioned  (xx.  28).  There  were  various  sacred 
places,  where  the  people  met  for  formal  sacrifice.  The  ark  is 


RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL.  31 

mentioned  as  being  at  Bethel  (xx.  26,  27).  Human  sacrifice 
was  sometimes  practised  (xi.  34-40).  There  seems  to  have  been 
little  organization,  civil  or  religious.  It  was  a  time  of  turmoil 
and  preparation,  out  of  which  we  shall  presently  see  order  and 
prosperity  arise.  How  long  it  lasted  is  uncertain  (see  Lesson 
VII. ). 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On   the   book   of  Judges  :    commentaries   of    Bertheau, 
Leipzig,  1845,  and  Lange,  English  translation,  New  York,  1872. 

2.  On  the  religious  history  :  the  works  of  Kuenen,  Wellhau- 
sen,  Knappert,  Allen,  and  others  above  mentioned,  and  article 
"  Israel"  in  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  On  leaving  Goshen,  in  what  region  did  the  Israelites  move  about  for 
som^  time  ?     Can  we  tell  their  route  with  certainty  ?     Did  the}^  dwell  for  a 
while   at  Mount   Sinai  ?     Was  the  Law  given  there  ?     In  what   direction 
would  they  march  thence  to  Canaan  ?     Did  it  take  them  a  long  time  to 
conquer  the  land  ?     What  circumstances  helped  them  to  conquer  it  ? 

2.  What  book  gives  the  history  of  the  conquest  of  Canaan?     When  was 
this  book  probably  composed  ?     Does  it  contain   extracts  from  earlier  writ- 
ings ?    Are  its  religious  ideas  mostly  those  of  the  earlier  or  of  the  later 
times  ?     Can  you  tell  who  Joshua  was,  and  what  he  did  ?     Do  you  suppose 
that  he  wrote  anything  in  the  book  called  by  his  name  ?     Why,  then,  is  it  so 
called? 

3.  When  the  Israelites  had  settled  in  Canaan,  what  did  they  do?     How 
were  they  divided  by  the  river  Jordan?    (Seethe  map.)     How  were  those 
west  of  the  Jordan  divided  ?     Which  were  the  two  leading  tribes  ?   Was  there 
any  ruler  over  the  whole  land?   What  was  a  judge?   Was  the  country  a  unit? 

4.  What  book  gives  the  history  of  this  period?     By  whom  was  it  writ- 
ten ?     When  ?     Into  what  four  parts  is  it  divided  ?     Can  you  point  these 
out  in  the  Bible  ?    Is  it  all  real  history  ? 

5.  What  is  the  story  of  Deborah  and  Barak? —  the  story  of  Gideon?  — 
of  Abimelech?  —  of  Jephthah  ?  —  of  Samson  ?    How  many  additional  narra- 
tives at  the  end  of  the  book?    What  is  the  object  of  the  first?— of  the 
second  ? 

6.  During  the  period  of  the  Judges  what  was  the  character  of  the  civil 
government  of  the  Israelites  ?  —  of  their  morals  ?     What  did  they  worship  ? 
Who  were  priests  ?    Where  did  they  sacrifice  ?    Where  was  the  ark  ?     WThat 
was  the  ark?     [A  sacred  box,  containing  something,  we  don't  know  what.] 


THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 


LESSON    VI. 

SAMUEL   AND   SAUL. 

1.  The  Situation  in  the  Time  of  Eli.  —  The  book  of 
Judges  carries  the  history  to  the  death  of  Samson;  in  the  book 
of  Samuel  we  are  introduced  to  a  new  scene,  and  the  connection 
between  the  two  books  is  not  stated.  We  find  ourselves  at 
Shiloh  in  Ephraim,  where  there  is  a  sanctuary  of  Yahwe,  of 
which  Eli  and  his  sons  are  the  priests  (1  Sam.  i.).  How  long 
this  place  had  been  a  centre  of  worship  we  do  not  know  (Josh, 
xviii.  1  is  of  doubtful  authority) ;  it  seems  to  have  been  resorted 
to  only  by  the  central  tribes.  At  any  rate,  it  is  a  sign  that 
religion  was  becoming  more  orderly ;  all  through  the  time  of  the 
Judges  it  had  been  quietly  growing  into  shape.  The  ark  was 
in  the  Shiloh  sanctuary,  which  was  not  a  tent  but  a  house  (1  Sam. 
iii.  3) ;  people  like  Elkanah  used  to  go  up  thither  to  sacrifice 
(1  Sam.  i.  3) ;  the  priests  lived  in  part  from  the  offerings  of 
worshippers  (1  Sam.  ii.  13-16) ;  and  the  menial  work  of  the 
sanctuary  (which  was  afterwards  done  by  the  Levites)  was  per- 
formed by  a"  sort  of  guild  of  women.  The  priest  Eli 
(it  appears  that  the  rank  of  high-priest  was  not  yet  established) 
was  also  judge;  perhaps  he  administered  justice  in  one  part  of 
the  country  while  Samson  was  fighting  in  another.  The  politi- 
cal condition  was  unfortunate.  The  Philistines  had  been  for 
some  time  masters  of  the  central  districts  of  Israel  (Judges  xv. 
11).  This  people  dwelt  on  the  sea-coast  west  of  Benjamin  and 
Judah;  they  were  brave  and  warlike  and  more  civilized  than  the 
Israelites;  their  language  was  like  the  Hebrew,  their  worship 
(idolatry)  was  like  that  of  the  Canaanites,  but  we  do  not  know 
exactly  how  they  came  into  Canaan. 

2.  Samuel's  Life  and  Work.  —  Up  to  this  time  the  history 
has  been  very  dim,  but  now  we  shall  begin  to  see  more  light. 
We  have  come  to  one  of  the  great  names  of  Israel,  a  man  whom 
we  can  call  a  great  teacher  and  reformer  in  religion.  It  is  Sam- 
uel, of  course,  of  whom  we  are  speaking.  He  is  said  to  have 


RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL.  38 

been  born  in  the  territory  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  (1  Sam.  i. 
1),  and  to  have  been  brought  up  by  Eli  at  Shiloh  (iii.).  On  Eli's 
death  he  succeeded  him  as  judge  over  central  Israel.  As  a 
political  ruler  he  seems  to  have  been  vigorous  and  efficient;  he 
united  the  tribes  to  some  extent,  beat  back  the  Philistines  (vii. 
13),  and  finally  aided  in  establishing  a  kingly  government. 

His  religious  work  was  not  less  valuable.  Not  only 
was  he  a  zealous  adherent  of  Yahwe  against  the  Canaan ite 
worship,  but  he  probably  founded  the  order  of  prophets,  who  in 
later  times  were  to  be  the  chief  instruments  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence for  purifying  the  religion  of  Israel.  Ever  since  the  con- 
quest the  people  had  been  constantly  tempted  to  worship  the 
gods  of  their  Canaanite  neighbors.  These  Canaanites  were  not 
perfectly  subdued  till  the  time  of  David  and  Solomon.  They 
dwelt  in  the  midst  of  the  Hebrews,  were  their  superiors  in  civil- 
ization, and  their  religious  ceremonies  were  gay  and  attractive. 
What  wonder  that  the  poor  Israelites  often  fell  to  worshipping 
the  Baals  along  with  their  own  god,  Yahwe  ?  But  there  was 
growing  up  in  Israel  a  party  who  believed  that  the  people  would 
not  be  prosperous  and  happy  unless  they  put  aside  all  other 
deities  and  served  Yahwe  alone.  Others  thought  that  there 
was  no  harm  in  serving  all  these  gods.  And  so  there  arose  a 
conflict  between  the  two  parties.  Now  Samuel  seems  to  have 
been  the  organizer  of  the  Yahwe  party;  that  is,  he  was  so 
zealous  for  the  God  of  Israel  and  so  intolerant  of  all  others  that 
he  became  a  leader,  and  those  who  thought  like  him  would  help 
him  in  his  efforts  to  banish  the  worship  of  the  Canaanite  deities. 
To  aid  in  this  good  cause  he  formed  schools  or 
communities  of  prophets.  For  a  long  time  there  had  been  seers 
or  fortune-tellers  among  the  Israelites.  Samuel  himself  was  a 
seer  (1  Sam.  ix.  9-11);  people  paid  him  for  telling  them  where 
to  find  lost  things.  There  were  also  men  who  felt  themselves 
mofed  by  a  divine  being  to  speak  and  declare  his  will;  these 
were  the  prophets  proper.  The  Hebrew  prophet  was  not  chiefly 
a  foreteller  of  future  events,  but  a  declarer  of  the  divine  will. 
At  first  there  was  much  superstition  mixed  with  their  utterances; 
they  used  to  excite  themselves  by  music  and  pour  out  their 
words  in  a  frenzy.  After  a  while  they  came  to  speak  more 

3 


34  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE 

calmly,  and  what  they  said  had  more  moral  teaching  in  it.  In 
Samuel's  day  there  were  companies  of  these  prophets  (1  Sam. 
x.  5),  and  he  was  their  director  (xix.  20).  They  may  have  ex- 
isted before  his  time,  but  he  seems  to  have  made  them  more 
effective,  and  to  have  laid  the  foundations  of  the  prophetic  life 
of  Israel.  We  must  not  suppose  that  there  were  at  this  time 
any  men  like  Amos  and  Isaiah.  The  "  prophets  "  that  Saul 
met  were  probably  little  more  than  frenzied  seers  (xix.  24). 
But  a  beginning  had  been  made. 

3.  The  Life  of  Saul.  —  For  some  time  the  people  of  Israel 
had  felt  that  they  needed  a  stronger  government  and  more  unity 
than  then  existed.  When  they  were  attacked  they  had  nobody 
to  gather  all  the  warriors  and  oppose  the  enemy.  One  part  of 
the  country  was  beaten  because  the  rest  was  inactive.  We  have 
seen  (Lesson  V.)  that  there  had  been  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  make  Gideon  king.  Finally  the  need  became  so  pressing 
that  the  people  clamored  for  a  change,  the  elders  met  together 
to  consult  (1  Sam.  viii.),  Samuel  agreed  to  their  demand,  and, 
through  his  influence,  a  Benjamin ite  named  Saul  was  chosen 
king.  He  proved,  on  the  whole,  a  very  good  ruler.  He  seems 
to  have  united  the  greater  part  of  the  land  under  his  sceptre. 
He  was  for  a  long  time  successful  in  his  wars  against  the  enemies 
of  Israel,  including  the  Philistines  (xiv.  47,  48) ;  though  he  fell 
in  battle  against  them  (xxxi.),  they  were  so  weakened  by  him 
that  David  easily  conquered  them.  He  seems  to  have  been  a 
bluff,  frank-souled  soldier,  generous,  impulsive,  and  self-willed. 
He  was  afflicted  with  a  species  of  melancholy,  a  disease  that 
darkened  parts  of  his  life ;  it  is  described  in  the  narrative  as 
possession  by  an  evil  spirit  from  Yahwe  (1  Sam.  xvi.  14).  He 
was  also  a  decided  worshipper  of  Yahwe ;  we  read  nothing  of 
his  serving  other  gods.  He  was  fiercely  zealous  against  the  idol- 
atrous wizards  and  necromancers  (xxviii.  3) .  But  after  a  while 
he  quarrelled  with  Samuel,  or  rather,  Samuel  withdrew  from 
him  (xv.  35).  Two  causes  of  this  disagreement  are  mentioned: 
Saul,  as  head  of  the  nation,  once  offered  a  sacrifice  himself 
instead  of  waiting  for  Samuel  (xiii.  9-13);  and  he  refused  to 
destroy  the  king  and  the  cattle  of  the  Amalekites,  as  Samuel  com- 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  35 

manded  (xv.).  That  is,  Samuel,  though  no  longer  judge,  wished 
to  retain  his  former  prominence  and  authority,  and  desir.ed 
that  Saul  should  be  as  ardent  a  follower  of  Yah  we  as  himself; 
Saul,  on  the  other  hand,  was  inclined  to  be  independent.  Sam- 
uel therefore  withdrew  and  chose  another  king  (David),  who 
would  better  carry  out  his  ideas.  Saul  seems  to  have  been  be- 
loved by  his  people,  and,  notwithstanding  his  unhappy  death, 
added  no  little  to  his  country's  prosperity. 

4.  The  Book  of  Samuel.  — The  history  of  Samuel  and  Saul 
is  given  in  the  first  part  of  the  book  of  Samuel,  which  is  now 
printed  as  a  separate  book  called  First  Samuel.  Samuel  was 
probably  composed  by  a  prophet  during  the  Babylonian  Exile 
from  older  writings  and  traditions. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On    the   book    of    Samuel  :    commentaries  of    Thenius 
(  "  Kurzgefasstes  Exegetisches  Handbuch  "  ),  Leipzig,  1864,  and 
Lange,  English  translation,  New  York,  1877. 

2.  On  Israelitish  prophecy:    R.  Payne  Smith's  "  Prophecy 
a  Preparation  for  Christ,"  London  and  New  York,  1871;    Kue- 
nen's    "  The     Prophets    and     Prophecy    in    Israel,"    English 
translation,    London,    1877;    Ewald's    "The   Prophets   of    the 
Old  Testament,"  English  translation;   W.  Robertson   Smith's 
"Prophets  of  Israel,"  New  York,  1882. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  How  far  does  the  book  of  Judges  carry  the  history  ?     Where  do  we 
find  ourselves  in  the  beginning  of  the  book  of  Samuel  ?     What  religious 
worship  was  carried  on  at  Shiloh  ?     Who  was  priest  there  ?     Was  he  also 
judge?     What  was  the  political  condition  of  the  country?     Who  were  the 
Philistines  ? 

2.  Who  was  the  great  man  of  this  time  ?     Where  was  he  born,  and  where 
brought  up  ?     What  did  he  do  when  Eli  died?     Was  his  religious  work  val- 
uable ?     Why  were  the  Israelites   drawn  into  the  worship  of  the  Canaanite 
gods?    What  did  Samuel  think  of  this?     What  was  the   Yahwe  party? 
Why  did  Samuel  found  communities  of  prophets?     What  was  a  prophet? 
What  was  a  seer  ?    Were  the  prophets  at  first  moral  teachers  ?    What  use 


36  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

did  they  make  of  music  ?  What  good  work  did  they  perform  in  later  times  ? 
In  Samuel's  time  were  there  any  such  great  religious  teachers  as  Amos  and 
Isaiah  ? 

3.  Why  did  the  Israelites  wish  for  a  stronger  government?     "What  is 
meant  by  a  strong  government  ?    Who  was  chosen  king  V     Of  what  tribe 
was  he  V     Was  he  a  good  ruler  ?     Was  he  successful  against  his  enemies  V 
Was  he  a  worshipper  of  Yahwe?     What  did  he  do  to  the  wizards  and 
witches  ?     Why  did  Samuel  withdraw  from  him  ?     How  did  Saul  die  ?    Did 
he  add  to  his  country's  prosperity  V 

4.  In  what  book  do  we  find  the  history  of  Samuel  and  Saul  ?     When  was 
it  written  ?    Whence  its  name  ? 


LESSON  VII. 

DAVID  AND  SOLOMON. 

1.  Legends  of  Great  Men.  —  We  have  now  reached  another 
great  name  in  the  history  of  Israel  —  Saul's  successor,  David. 
We  shall  find  that,  though  he  was  truly  a  great  man,  the  ac- 
counts of  him  that  have  reached  us  are  exaggerated.     So  it  is 
with  the  histories  of  Moses  and  Samuel,  and  so  it  commonly  is 
with  the  lives  of  great  men  who  lived  far  back.     The  people 
remember  that  these  men  did  some  remarkable  thing,  stories 
about  them    grow  up  from  generation  to  generation,   and  in 
later  times  all  things  that  are  like  what  they  did  are  ascribed 
to  them.     Moses  was  believed  to  have  begun  the  Law,  and  then 
he  was  believed  to  be  the  author  of  all  the  laws.     It  was  known 
that  Samuel  had  something  to  do  with  the  prophets  and  the 
king,  and  so  it  was  supposed  that  he  chose  and  established  the 
first  king,  and  was  himself  a  prophet,  like  Isaiah.     David  was 
a  successful  warrior  and  a  poet,  and  was  afterwards  represented 
as  having  composed  half  the  Psalms  of  the  Old  Testament. 

2.  David    as    King    and    Man.  —  David    was    born    and 
reared  in  the  town  of   Bethlehem,  in  the  tribe  of  Judah.     He 
was  a  shepherd  and  a  warrior,  and,  while  still  a  youth,  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  deeds  of  valor  (for  the  story  of  Goliath, 


RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL.  37 

see  1  Sam.  xvii.).  It  seems  that  in  some  way  he  became 
the  head  of  a  party  opposed  to  Saul,  and  he  had  to  leave  the 
country  and  take  refuge  with  the  Philistine  king  of  Gath 
(1  Sam.  xxvii.).  On  the  death  of  Saul  he  was  declared  king 
by  the  tribe  of  Judah  (probably  about  B.C.  1040),  and  after 
some  years  of  war  established  his  authority  over  the  whole 
land  of  Israel.  He  then  began  a  series  of  brilliant  campaigns, 
in  which,  with  his  famous  general,  Joab,  he  subdued  the 
Philistines  and  other  neighboring  tribes  (Edomites,  Moabites, 
Ammonites)  and  extended  his  dominion  to  the  Euphrates 
River.  He  conquered  the  Syrians,  and  became  an  ally  of  the 
Phoenicians  (Tyre),  but  did  not  come  into  contact  with  the 
Egyptians  and  Assyrians,  these  nations  being  then  elsewhere 
occupied.  David  was  thus  the  founder  of  a  mighty 

empire;  in  his  day  there  was,  perhaps,  none  mightier.  He 
made  Israel  a  united  people  and  laid  the  foundations  of  its 
future  history.  His  method  of  governing  was  like  that  of  all 
monarchs  of  that  time;  kings  were  then  accustomed  to  do  as 
they  pleased.  He  was  tempted  into  committing  wicked  deeds, 
as  many  other  kings  have  been.  He  was  not  above  the  cruel 
customs  of  his  day  (2  Sam.  viii.  2,  xii.  31).  But  he  appears  to 
have  repented  of  his  evil  when  it  was  brought  home  to  his 
conscience  (xii.  13),  and  to  have  been  humble  under  affliction 
(xvi.  11,  12);  though  it  must  be  admitted  that  his  dying 
instructions  to  his  son  (1  Kings  ii.  5-9)  were  not  in  the  spirit  of 
the  New  Testament.  We  must  judge  him  according  to  the 
light  he  had. 

3.  David  as  Religious  Man  and  Poet. — David,  like  Saul, 
was  a  devoted  worshipper  of  Yahwe ;  and,  so  far  as  we  know, 
never  worshipped  any  of  the  Canaanite  deities.  This  does  not 
mean  that  he  thought  there  was  only  one  God  (monotheism). 
On  the  contrary,  he  seems  to  have  believed  that  each  nation  had 
its  own  god,  and  that  in  every  land  one  must  worship  the  god  of 
that  land  (1  Sam.  xxvi.  19).  But  he  preferred  the  god  of  his 
own  country.  When  he  became  king  and  had  conquered  the 
citadel  of  Jerusalem  (Zion),  he  brought  the  ark  to  his  new 
capital,  having  made  a  tent  (tabernacle)  for  it  (2  Sam.  vi.) 


38  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

la  those  days  the  ark  was  believed  to  be  the  special  dwelling- 
place  of  Yahwe,  and  great  reverence  was  paid  it  (1  Sam.  iv.-vi.) ; 
it  was  a  small  box,  but  whence  it  came,  and  what  it  contained, 
we  do  not  know.  (For  the  contents  of  the  ark  in  Solomon's 
temple,  see  1  Kings  viii.  9;  for  later  ideas  as  to  what  the  earlier 
ark  contained,  see  Heb.  ix.  4,  compared  with  Ex.  xvi.  33, 
and  Num.  xvii.  10.)  David  intended  to  build  a  temple  for  < 
Yahwe  (2  Sam.  vii.),  but  was  so  constantly  engaged  in  war  that 
he  did  not  find  time.  The  priests,  offerings,  and  feasts,  and 
other  religious  arrangements  were  about  the  same  in  his  time 
as  under  Samuel  and  Saul.  David  was  not  only  a  great 

warrior,  but  also  an  excellent  poet;  he  composed  a  beautiful 
and  pathetic  elegy  on  Saul  and  Jonathan  (2  Sam.  i.  19-27). 
Many  of  the  Psalms  are  ascribed  to  him  in  the  titles,  but  we 
cannot  be  sure  that  he  was  the  author  of  any  of  them.  In  later 
times,  when  he  was  looked  on  as  the  great  hero  and  warrior-poet, 
it  was  natural  that  he  should  be  represented  as  the  composer 
of  the  hymns  of  the  temple-service. 

4.  Solomon  as  King  and  Sage.  —  Solomon,  David's  son 
and  successor,  was  the  most  magnificent  of  the  Israelitish 
kings.  The  period  of  his  reign  may  be  put  at  about  B.C.  1000- 
960.  He  inherited  and  maintained  the  empire  of  his  father. 
He  enriched  himself  and  his  people  by  foreign  commerce,  and 
adorned  Jerusalem  with  splendid  buildings.  He  entered  into 
marriage  alliances  with  many  of  the  surrounding  nations. 
But  he  alienated  the  northern  tribes  by  heavy  taxation,  and 
prepared  the  way  for  the  division  of  the  kingdom  (see  Lesson 
VIII.).  At  the  same  time  he  was  a  patron  of  literature  and 
philosophy.  He  attracted  to  his  court  the  sages  of  Israel  and 
the  neighboring  peoples,  and  was  himself  a  sage  (1  Kings  iv. 
30-34,  x.  1-13).  The  wise  men  of  those  days  spoke  chiefly  of 
matters  of  every-day  life;  they  gave  rules  of  conduct  in  the 
form  of  short,  striking  sayings  (proverbs),  drawing  illustrations 
from  trees,  beasts,  birds,  reptiles,  and  fishes  (1  Kings  iv.  33). 
Three  books  in  the  Old  Testament  are  ascribed  to  Solomon: 
Proverbs,  Song  of  Songs,  and  Ecclesiastes,  but  we  cannot 
regard  him  as  their  author.  The  second  and  third  were  com- 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  39 

posed  long  after  his  time,  and  so  was  much  of  the  first ;  but  it 
is  not  unlikely  that  he  and  the  sages  of  his  court  uttered  and 
arranged  a  good  many  of  these  proverbial  sayings  (called  in 
Hebrew,  mashal,  "  similitude"). 

5.  Solomon's  Temple.  —  Solomon  was  not  exclusively  de- 
voted to  the  worship  of  Yah  we;  he  paid  honor  to  other  deities. 
His  foreign  wives  had  temples  for  their  gods  (1  Kings  xi.  5-8), 
and  he  joined  in  their  worship;  and  so,  no  doubt,  did  the  pec 
pie.  But  he  was  an  Israelite,  and  fond  of  splendor,  and  he  built 
a  magnificent  temple  to  Yahwe  on  Mount  Moriah  in  Jerusalem 
(1  Kings  vi.,  vii.)  This  was  a  very  important  event  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  religion  of  Israel.  Up  to  this  time  there  had  been 
no  central  place  of  worship,  but  now  all  the  people  would  go  to 
Jerusalem  to  worship  in  the  great  temple  of  their  own  Yahwe. 
From  this  time  the  outward  part  of  the  religion,  the  ritual, 
ceremonial  side,  began  to  grow;  and  we  shall  see  that  it  did 
both  good  and  harm.  The  priests  of  the  Jerusalem  temple 
began  now  to  take  precedence  over  other  priests,  and  their 
power  continued  to  increase  till  they  became  rulers  of  the  nation 
(after  the  Exile).  It  is  not  said  in  the  book  of  Kings  that 
Solomon's  temple  was  built  after  the  model  of  the  tabernacle 
described  in  Exodus;  and,  in  fact,  it  is  doubtful  whether  this 
latter  ever  existed. 

6.  The  Books  of  Samuel,  Kings,  and  Chronicles. — The  life 
of  David  is  given  in  the  two  books  of  Samuel  and  the  two  first 
chapters  of  First  Kings,  and  that  of  Solomon  in  1  Kings 
iii.-xi. ;  and  there  is  another  account  in  Chronicles,  1  Chron. 
xi.-xxix.  being  devoted  to  David,  and  2  Chron.  i.-ix.  to 
Solomon.  The  difference  between  the  books  of  Kings  and 
Chronicles  is  this:  Kings  (which  is  a  continuation  of  Judges 
and  Samuel)  was  written  by  a  prophet  during  the  Babylonian 
Exile;  it  gives  the  history  of  both  the  southern  kingdom  of 
Judah  and  the  northern  kingdom  of  Israel  (see  Lesson  VIII.), 
and  its  object  is  to  show  that  the  nation's  prosperity  was 
in  proportion  to  its  obedience  to  Yahwe ;  Chronicles  was  written 
by  a  priest  or  a  Levite  more  than  two  hundred  years  later,  it 


40  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

gives  the  history  of  Judah  only,  and  its  object  is  to  show  that 
the  nation's  prosperity  was  in  proportion  to  its  observance  of 
the  temple-service.  Much  that  Chronicles  says  of  the  temple- 
service  is  not  reliable.  The  life  of  David  in  Samuel  contains 
some  repetitions  and  obscurities,  but  is  in  the  main  trustworthy. 
The  history  of  Solomon  in  Kings  seems  to  be  somewhat  embel- 
lished. Such  embellishments,  however,  are  simply  records  of 
traditions ;  the  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament  (except, 
perhaps,  Chronicles)  are  honest  endeavors  to  set  forth  the  facts 
of  the  history. 

7.  The  Chronology.  —  The  chronology  of  the  history  of 
Israel  begins  to  be  firmer  in  the  time  of  David  and  Solomon, 
thougn  it  is  by  no  means  sure.  Before  this  time  the  numbers 
given  in  the  Old  Testament  seem  to  be  based  on  a  tradition  that 
cannot  be  depended  on;  so  that  we  have,  for  example,  to  try 
to  fix  the  date  of  the  Exodus  by  the  help  of  Egyptian  history. 
But  during  the  period  of  the  kings,  the  numbers  seem  to  be 
taken  from  written  records,  and  if  we  can  fix  some  one  point, 
as  the  capture  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus,  we  can  then  reckon  back 
to  Solomon  and  David,  having  the  aid  of  the  Assyrian  monu- 
ments. The  date  of  the  accession  of  Solomon,  given  above  in 
the  fourth  paragraph,  is  approximately  correct;  perhaps  within 
fifty  years 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  David  and  Solomon:   the  general  histories  of  Israel 
mentioned  in  former  Lessons;  articles  in  cyclopedias  and  dic- 
tionaries.    For  the  legends,  Baring-Gould  and  Weil. 

2.  On  Solomon's  temple:  Fergusson's  "  History  of  Architec- 
ture," London,  1874,  and  his  "Temples  of  the  Jews,"  London, 
1878;  articles  in  Bible  dictionaries. 

3.  On  the  chronology  of  this  period:  George  Smith's  "As- 
syrian Canon,"  London,  1875;  Schrader's  u  Die  Keil-inschiften 
und   das    Alte    Testament,"    Giessen,    1883;     W.    R.    Smith's 
"  Prophets  of  Israel,"  sections  iv.  and  v. ;  the  commentaries  on 
Kings  and  Chronicles ;  articles  in  dictionaries. 


RELIGION   OP    ISRAEL.  41 

4.  On  the  book  of  Kings:  commentaries  of  Thenius  ("Kurz- 
gefasstes  Exegetisches  Handbuch")  and  Lange,  English  transla- 
tion, New  York,  1872;  articles  in  dictionaries. 

5.  On  the  book  of   Chronicles:    commentaries  of   Bertheau 
(" Kurzgef asstes  Exegetisches  Handbuch")  and  Lange,  English 
translation,  New  York,  1876 ;  articles  in  dictionaries. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Are  histories  of  great  men  of  early  times  often  exaggerated  ?     Why? 
Was  it  so  in  the  case  of  Moses  V  —  of  Samuel  V  —of  David  ? 

2.  Where  was  David  born  ?    What  was  his  early  history  ?    When  did  he 
become  king  ?     What  lands  did  he  conquer  ?    Did  he  make  Israel  a  great 
nation?    How  did  kings  in  those  days  govern?    Was  David  better  than  the 
people  of  his  time  ?    Does  he  seem  to  have  lived  according  to  the  precepts 
of  Jesus  ?    How  should  we  judge  him  ? 

3.  Did  David  worship  Yahwe  alone  ?    Did  he  think  that  there  were  other 
gods  ?    Why  did  he  prefer  Yahwe  ?    What  did  he  prepare  for  the  ark  ? 
Why  did  he  not  build  a  temple  to  Yahwe  ?     Was  he  an  excellent  poet  ? 
Can  you  mention  one  of  his  poems  ?    Is  it  religious  at  all  ?    What  religious 
poems  are  ascribed  to  him  ?     Can  we  be  sure  that  he  composed  any  of 
these  ? 

4.  Who  was  David's  son  and  successor?    How  did  he  enrich  the  nation? 
How  did  he  alienate  the  northern  tribes  ?    How  did  he  encourage  learning  ? 
Of  what  did  the  wise  men  or  sages  of  that  time  chiefly  speak  ?    What  three 
books  are  ascribed  to  him  ?    Did  he  write  any  one  of  them  ?    What  did  he 
probably  do  as  a  sage  ? 

5.  Was   Solomon  a  worshipper  of  Yahwe  alone  ?    Why  did  he  build 
temples  for  foreign  gods  ?    What  sort  of  temple  did  he  build  for  Yahwe? 
Where?     Why  was  this  an  important  event  in  the  history  of  the  religion  of 
Israel  ?     What  of  the  priests  of  the  Jerusalem  temple  ?     Is  it  said  in  Kings 
that  Solomon's  temple  was  built  after  the  model  of  the  tabernacle  described 
in  Exodus  ? 

6.  What  two   accounts  have  we   of   the  life  of  David?     What  two  of 
the  life  of  Solomon  ?     When  and  for  what  purpose  was  the  book  of  Kings 
written  ?     When  and  for  what  purpose  the  book  of  Chronicles  ?     Wherein  is 
Chronicles  valuable  ?     Are  the  lives  of  David  and  Solomon  in  Samuel  and 
Kings  in  the  main  trustworthy  ? 

7.  What  is  chronology?    When  does  the  chronology  of  Israelite  history 
begin  to  be  clearer  and  more  certain  ?     From  what  nations  do  we  look  for 
help  in  the  chronology?    Will  it  help  if  we  can  fix  some  one  point?     How 
near  right  is  the  date  given  for  the  accession  of  Solomon  ? 


42  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

LESSON    VIII. 

WORSHIP  OF  THE  CALF  AND  OF  BAAL. 

I.  The  Division  of  the  Kingdom.  —  The  united  kingdom 
oi  Israel  lasted  only  about  one  hundred  years,  under  the  three 
tings,  Saul,  David,  and  Solomon  (about  B.C.  1060-960). 
There  had  always  been  jealousies  among  the  tribes,  especially 
between  Judah  and  Ephraim,  even  in  David's  time  (2  Sam.  xix. 
41-43)  ;  they  had  never  been  thoroughly  welded  together  into 
one  nation.  David  and  Solomon  were  of  Judah,  and  Ephraim 
and  the  other  northern  tribes  did  not  like  their  inferior  position. 
The  discontent  was  increased  by  the  heavy  burdens  that  Solo- 
mon laid  on  the  people  in  order  to  carry  on  his  great  buildings 
and  his  splendid  court.  Moreover,  he  had  incurred  the  enmity 
of  the  strict  Yahwists  by  his  permission  of  the  worship  of 
foreign  gods  ;  and,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  one  of  this 
party,  the  prophet  Ahijah,  incited  an  officer  of  the  king,  the 
Ephraimite  Jeroboam,  to  revolt  ;  Solomon  detected  the  scheme 
before  it  was  ripe,  and  Jeroboam  had  to  fly  into  Egypt  (1  Kings 
xi.  26-40).  But  on  Solomon's  death,  when  his  son  Rehoboam 
went  to  Shechem  to  be  crowned,  Jeroboam  came  back,  and  the 
northern  tribes  sent  him  and  others  as  a  deputation  to  the  new 
king  to  demand  a  diminution  of  the  taxes.  He  refused  to  grant 
their  request  ;  whereupon  they  withdrew,  saying  that  they  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Judah-dynasty  of  David,  and  the  Ten 
Tribes  chose  Jeroboam  as  their  king.  There  were  left  to  Reho- 
•boam  only  Judah  and  a  part  of  Benjamin,  and  the  insignificant 
Simeon  (1  Kings  xii.  1-21,  2  Chron.  x.).  From  this  time  till  the 
fall  of  the  northern  kingdom  (B.C.  720)  our  history  falls  into  two 
parts ;  we  shall  study  the  parallel  developments  of  Judah  and 
Israel,  the  latter  name  signifying  all  the  tribes  except  Judah, 
Benjamin,  Simeon,  and  Levi.  As  there  were  twelve  tribes  be- 
sides Levi  (Joseph's  sons,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  counting  as 
two),  and  as  Benjamin  (in  which  was  Bethel)  belonged  in  part 
to  the  riorthern  kingdom,  the  latter  is  called  the  Ten  Tribes. 

2.  The  Dynasties  of  Jeroboam  and  Omri.  —  First,  let  us 
take  a  rapid  view  of  the  external  history  of  the  northern  king- 
dom, from  the  accession  of  Jeroboam  to  the  accession  of  Jehu, 
that  is,  about  B  c.  960-842  (these  dates  are  D -cvisional).  The 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  43 

throne  of  Israel  was  not  stable  ;  kings  and  dynasties  rapidly 
succeeded  one  another.  After  Jeroboam  came  his  son  Nadab, 
but  he  was  soon  conspired  against  and  slain  by  Baasha,  who 
reigned  in  his  stead.  So  Baasha's  son  was  killed  by  conspira- 
tors, and  civil  war  arose,  and  Omri  was  made  king.  He  built 
a  new  capital,  Samaria,  and  founded  an  important  dynasty,  of 
which  the  kings  after  him  were  his  son,  Ahab,  and  his  grandsons, 
Ahaziah  and  Jehoram  (or  Joram).  There  were  at  first  wars 
between  Israel  and  Judah,  in  which  the  former  appears  to  have 
had  the  advantage,  as,  indeed,  it  was  the  larger  country,  with 
the  more  numerous  population  ;  but  in  Ahab's  time  the  two 
formed  an  alliance,  the  king  of  Judah 's  son  marrying  the  king 
of  Israel's  daughter.  More  important  were  the  wars 

between  the  Israelites  and  their  northern  neighbors,  the  Syrians. 
Since  David  defeated  them  these  Syrians  had  been  growing 
in  power,  and  now  became  Israel's  most  dangerous  enemies, 
frequently  overcoming  its  armies  in  battle,  till  they  themselves 
were  conquered  by  the  Assyrians  (B.C.  732).  See  1  Kings  xii.- 
xxii.,  2  Kings  i.-viii. 

3.  Calf- 'worship  and  Baal-worship.  —  During  this  time 
many  things  of  great  interest  happened  in  the  religious  life  of 
Israel.  The  two  most  important  of  these  were  that  Yahwe  be- 
gan to  be  worshipped  in  the  form  of  a  calf,  and  the  Canaanite 
deity  Baal  was  adopted  by  the  court  and  many  of  the  people. 
The  calf-worship  was  established  by  Jeroboam  at  Bethel  and 
Dan.  He  knew  that  if  the  people  continued  to  go  to  Jerusalem  to 
the  temple,  they  would  be  tempted  to  give  up  his  government  and 
obey  the  king  of  Judah.  Therefore  he  made  a  separate  form  of 
religion  for  Israel.  He  put  the  great  feast  of  booths  (Taberna- 
cles) in  the  eighth  month  of  the  year  (about  our  October)  instead 
of  the  seventh,  as  it  had  before  been.  And  he  set  up  two  golden 
calf-images  to  be  worshipped  ;  they  were  intended  to  represent 
Yahwe  (1  Kings  xii.  26-32).  The  people  had  never  ceased  to 
worship  images,  and  so  they  easily  accepted  these.  Besides, 
there  had  long  been  a  sanctuary  of  Yahwe  at  Dan  (Judges  xvii., 
xviii.),  and  perhaps  there  was  an  image  of  a  bull  there  ;  it  is 
likely  that  this  was  not  an  old  Israelitish  custom,  but  borrowed 


44  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

from  the  Canaanites.  Jeroboam  allowed  any  of  the  people  to  be 
priests,  not  only  the  Levites,  while  in  Judah  the  priestly  office 
was  coming  to  be  confined  to  Levites.  This  calf-worship  seems 
to  have  lasted  till  the  fall  of  Samaria,  B.C.  720  (Hos.  viii.  5). 
It  was  Ahab  who  introduced  the  worship  of  Baal  and 
Ashera  (where  the  word  "grove"  occurs  in  our  English  ver- 
sion, we  must  understand  u  an  image  or  wooden  pillar  of  the  god- 
dess Ashera  "  ).  His  wife,  Jezebel,  was  a  Sidonian  princess,  and 
wished  to  have  the  gods  of  her  own  country,  and  her  husband 
readily  yielded  to  her  desire.  The  people  also  had  seen  much 
of  the  Baal-worship  among  their  Canaanite  neighbors,  and  were 
not  disinclined  to  it.  It  was  only  a  small  party  who  were  in 
favor  of  serving  Yahwe  alone.  So,  as  the  king  and  queen  and 
the  great  people  protected  Baalism,  it  prospered  through  the 
reigns  of  the  Omri  dynasty,  and  had  temples  and  priests  and 
offerings  and  feasts. 

4.  Elijah  and  Elisha.  —  But  the  party  of  Yahwe  was  not 
dead  nor  inactive.  Though  there  seems  to  have  been  at  this 
time  no  opposition  to  the  calf-worship  (which  was  Yahwe  wor- 
ship), there  were  many  people  who  were  displeased  that  foreign 
gods  should  be  brought  in  and  honored  equally  with  their  own 
national  deity.  Of  course  prophets  were  at  the  head  of  this 
party,  and  the  principal  leaders  were  the  two  famous  men,  Eli- 
jah and  Elisha.  These  two  were  alike  in  their  hatred  of  the 
foreign  gods,  but  very  different  from  each  other  in  character  and 
manner  of  work.  Elijah  was  a  stern  man,  who  lived  alone  in 
the  wilderness,  only  appearing  now  and  then  to  denounce  the 
idolatry  or  other  wrong-doing  of  the  king,  and  incite  the  people 
to  vengeance  on  the  priests  of  Baal  (1  Kings  xviii.,  xxi.).  Elisha 
had  a  house  in  Samaria  (2  Kings  vi.  32),  was  milder  of  nature, 
mingled  with  the  people  (2  Kings  iv.  8),  and  sought  to  lead  them 
to  worship  Yahwe  by  instruction  (iv.  23)  :  only  one  thing  that 
seems  cruel  is  reported  of  him  (ii.  23,  24).  Many  stories  are 
told  in  the  book  of  Kings  of  their  wonderful  deeds  ;  the  people 
naturally  thought  that  Yahwe  had  given  his  prophets  great 
power.  And  in  fact  they  did  at  last  succeed  in  crushing  Baal- 
ism in  Israel  (see  next  Lesson). 


RELIGION    OP   ISRAEL.  45 

5.  Political  and  Religious  History  of  Judah.  —  During 
this  time  there  was  more  quiet,  though  not  more  progress,  in  the 
southern  kingdom,  Judah.  The  family  of  David  continued  to 
occupy  the  throne.  There  were  various  wars,  of  course.  When 
Israel  first  withdrew  under  Jeroboam,  Rehoboam  wished  to 
attack  them,  but  listened  to  advice  and  refrained  (1  Kings  xii. 
21).  In  his  reign  also  the  Egyptians  came  up  and  pillaged  the 
temple  of  Yah  we  and  the  royal  palace  (xiv.  25).  After  him 
came  Abijam,  Asa,  and  Jehoshaphat ;  this  last  was  the  friend 
and  ally  of  Ahab,  king  of  Israel,  and  his  son  Jehoram  married 
Athaliah,  the  daughter  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel.  The  next  king, 
Ahaziah,  son  of  Jehoram  and  Athaliah,  was  slain  by  Jehu  (see 
Lesson  IX.).  Under  Jehoram  Judah  lost  Edom,  which  had  been 
its  tributary.  There  is  not  much  to  say  of  the  progress 

of  religion  in  the  southern  kingdom  during  this  period.  The 
worship  of  Yahwe  was  maintained  by  the  kings,  the  priests,  and 
the  people  at  Jerusalem.  But  the  Canaanite  gods  were  also 
worshipped,  with  their  impure  rites  (1  Kings  xiv.  22-24).  Down 
to  Jehoshaphat's  death  the  kings  did  not  favor  these  foreign 
deities  ;  Asa  even  degraded  his  mother  from  her  position  (the 
queen-mother,  that  is,  the  mother  of  the  king,  was  the  first  lady 
of  the  land)  because  she  made  an  image  of  the  goddess  Ashera 
(1  Kings  xv.  13.).  But  Jehoshaphat's  son  and  grandson,  Jeho- 
ram and  Ahaziah,  the  son-in-law  and  grandson  of  Ahab,  wor- 
shipped Baal,  probably  through  Athaliah 's  influence.  Though 
there  were  no  such  great  prophets  in  Judah  as  Elijah  and  Elisha, 
we  know,  from  after  events,  that  there  must  have  been  a  strong 
party  devoted  to  Yahwe,  and  opposed  to  the  Canaanite  gods. 
And  presently  we  shall  see  that  this  party  was  active  and 
vigorous. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  Elijah  and  Elisha  :  the   commentaries  and  histories 
above    mentioned  ;    articles    in  cyclopedias    and   dictionaries. 
Mendelssohn's  oratorio,  "  Elijah,"  fairly  represents  the  spirit  of 
the  prophet  and  his  work. 

2.  On  the  contemporaneous  Syrian  and  Egyptian  history  and 
the  chronology  :  the  works  of  Duncker,  Maspero,  Rawlinson. 


46  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE 

3.  On  the  Phoenician  history  :  Movers's  "Die  Phoenizier," 
Berlin,  1841-56;  Duncker. 

4.  On   the  religion   of   Israel  :   the   works   of   Kuenen   and 
Tiele. 

5.  On  the  Moabite  Stone,  the  inscription  on  which  throws 
light  on  the  history  of  the  Omri  dynasty  and  the  religion  of 
Moab,  see  "  Records  of  the  Past,'?  xi.  165. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  How  long  did  the  united  kingdom  of  Israel  last  V    Under  what  three 
kings  V    Had  the  tribes  ever  been  completely  welded  into  one  nation  V     How 
did  Solomon  increase  the  discontent  of  the  northern  tribes  V     How  did  he 
offend  the  strict  worshippers  of  Yahwe  ?    What  happened  when  Solomon 
died  V     Who  was  the  first  king  of  the  Ten  Tribes  ? 

2.  What  tribes  did  the  kingdom  of  Israel  embrace  ?    Was  the  throne  a 
stable  one  ?     How  many  of  Jeroboam's   family  reigned  V     How  many  of 
Omri's  family  ?    Were  the  kingdoms  of  Israel  and  Judah  at  first  friendly  to 
each  other  ?     Which  was  the  stronger  V     In  whose  time  did  they  form  an 
alliance  V     With  what  other  nation  did  the  Israelites  have  wars  ? 

3.  What  two  important  events  took  place   during  this  period  ?     Who 
established  the  calf-worship  V     Where  ?     Why  V     What  deity  did  the  calf 
represent  ?    Did  the  people  accept  this  worship  ?     Was  it  old  Israelitish,  or 
more  probably  Canaanitish  V     Who  introduced  the  worship   of  Baal  and 
Ashera  ?     Whence  did  he  take  it  ?    Did  the  people  readily  adopt  it  ?    Did 
they  also  worship  Yahwe  ? 

4.  Were  there  people  who  wished  Yahwe  alone  to  be  worshipppd  ?     Did 
they  suffer  the  calf-worship  ?    To  what  did  they  object.  V     What  two  men 
were  the  leaders  of  the  Yahwe  party  V    How  did  they  differ  from  each  other 
in  character  and  work  ?     Do  you  know  any  of  the  stories  about  them  ? 
Did  they  succeed  in  destroying  the  worship  of  Baal  in  Israel  ? 

5.  After  Israel  withdrew  under  Jeroboam,  what  family  continued  to 
reign  in  Jerusalem  over  Judah  ?     Did  they  have  wars  V     What  nation  pil- 
laged the  temple  and  the  palace  ?    Who  was  Athaliah  ?    Did  Yahwe  con- 
tinue to  be  worshipped  in  Jerusalem  ?    Were  other  gods  worshipped  ?    What 
king  deposed  his   mother  for   idolatry  ?     Was   there  a  Yahwe    party  in 
Judah  ? 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  47 


LESSON    IX. 

THE  FALL   OF   THE   BAAL-WORSHIP. 

1.  The  Contrast  between  the  Worships  of    Israel  and 
Canaan.  —  In  the  preceding  Lessons  we  have  spoken  of  a  conflict 
between  the  Israelitish  and  the  Canaanitish  forms  of  religion ; 
in  fact,  this  conflict  makes  almost  the  whole  of  the  religious 
history  of  the  northern  kingdom  (that  is,  to  B.C.  720,  when  it 
perished).     These  two  religions  differed  not  only  in  the  names 
of  their  deities,  but  also  in  the  character  of  their  worships.     It 
is  doubtful  whether  Israel  (the  whole  nation),  when  it  entered 
Canaan,  had  any  god  but  Yahwe;  and  his  worship  was  mostly 
grave  and  severe,  —  it  see"ms  to  have  included  human  sacrifices 
at  one  time,  but  it  had  no  gay  and  licentious  features.     The 
Canaanitish  worship  of  the  Baals,  the  Ashtaroth,  and  the  Ashe- 
ras  did  have  such  features;  it  was  bright  and  joyous,  and  that 
was  very  well,  but  it  was  also  sometimes  debasing.     And  there- 
fore the  prophets  of   Israel  had  a  good  reason,  besides  their 
attachment  to  their  own  national  deity,  for  opposing  it;    we 
cannot  help  sympathizing  with  them  in  this.     Looking  back  now 
we  can  see  that  their  opposition  to  foreign  worships  was  God's 
way  of  bringing  Israel  to  a  purer  idea  of  the  divine  nature,  and 
it  is  largely  to  Israel  that  we  owe  such  better  notions  of  religion 
as  we  have. 

2.  Elijah  and  Elisha  determine  to  root  out  Baalism.  — 

The  prophets  feared  Baalism,  and  rightly.  It  was  spreading 
over  all  the  land ;  the  people  liked  it  because  it  was  joyous,  and 
thus  they  were  led  by  it  into  sin.  In  Judah  it  was  popular,  but 
in  Israel  it  was  adopted  by  the  kings  and  the  nobles,  and  was  on 
that  account  more  dangerous.  So  the  prophets  Elijah  and  Elisha 
resolved  to  root  it  out.  They  believed  that  this  could  not  be  done 
so  long  as  Ahab  or  any  of  his  descendants  sat  on  the  throne,  and 
therefore  they  determined  to  overthrow  this  family.  For  that 
purpose  they  selected  one  of  the  high  officers  of  the  army,  named 


48  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

Jehu,  whom  they  knew  to  be  a  strict  worshipper  of  Yahwe,  and 
advised  him  to  revolt  against  the  king  (1  Kings  xix.  16,  2  Kings 
ix.  1-3).  The  army,  they  knew,  would  obey  the  general,  and  the 
people  were  not  friendly  enough  to  Ahab's  family  to  support  it. 

3.  Jehu's  Reform.  —  The  plan  was  successful.  One  of  Elisha's 
prophets  anointed  Jehu  king,  the  army  followed  him  without  a 
word,  and  the  dynasty  of  Omri  was  destroyed  (2  Kings  ix.,  x.). 
Jehoram,  Ahab's  second  son,  was  at  that  time  king  of  Israel; 
he  was  slain,  and  his  mother,  Jezebel,  and  all  of  Ahab's  family, 
and  also  Ahaziah,  king  of  Judah.  This  happened  about 
B.C.  842.  Then  Jehu  set  himself  to  crush  out  the  Baal- worship. 
He  called  a  great  assembly  of  all  the  followers  of  Baal  in  the 
temple  of  the  god  at  Samaria,  excluded  all  worshippers  of 
Yahwe,  and  slew  the  Baalites.  The  kingdom  of  Israel  lasted 
about  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  after  this,  but  Baalism 
never  again  raised  its  head.  The  calf- worship  established  by 
Jeroboam  continued,  —  it  was  really  a  worship  of  Yahwe ;  but 
the  Canaanite  gods  troubled  Israel  no  more  as  they  had  done. 
Some  remnant  of  their  worship  there  was  (Hos.  ii.  8),  but  it 
grew  feebler  and  feebler  and  at  last  died  out  completely. 

In  his  religious  reform  Jehu  found  an  efficient  ally  in 
Jehonadab,  the  son  of  Rechab  (2  Kings  x.  15).  These  Rechab- 
ites  were  strongly  devoted  to  the  worship  of  Yahwe,  and  enemies 
of  all  Canaanitish  customs.  They  even  refused  to  live  in  cities, 
fearing  the  luxury  of  that  sort  of  life;  they  dwelt  in  tents,  did 
not  cultivate  the  ground,  tended  cattle,  and  refrained  from 
drinking  wine.  They  were  still  in  existence  in  the  days  of  the 
prophet  Jeremiah  (Jer.  xxxv.).  No  doubt  there  were  many 
stanch  servants  of  Yahwe  who  never  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal 
(1  Kings  xix.  18,  xviii.  4). 

4.  The  Dynasty  of  Jehu.  —  The  dynasty  of  Jehu  lasted 
about  a  hundred  years.  The  chronology  is  uncertain  just  here ; 
we  provisionally  put  the  accession  of  Jehu  B.C.  842  (it  may 
have  been  from  twenty  to  thirty  years  earlier),  and  the  death 
of  the  last  king  of  his  family,  Zachariah,  B.C.  740.  The  mili- 
tary history  of  this  dynasty  was,  on  the  whole,  glorious.  Under 
Jehu  and  his  son,  Jehoahaz,  the  Syrians  gained  important  advan- 


RELIGION    OP   ISRAEL.  49 

tages  over  Israel,  conquering  the  territory  east  of  the  Jordan 
(2  Kings  x.  32,  33,  xiii.  3).  The  next  king,  Joash,  was  a  war- 
like prince  and  subdued  Edom  and  Judah  (xiv.  7-14).  His  son 
and  successor,  Jeroboam  II.,  the  greatest  Israelitish  conqueror 
since  David,  restored  the  prestige  of  his  country;  his  kingdom 
extended  from  the  Dead  Sea  on  the  south  to  Hamath  on  the 
north  (xiv.  25),  that  is,  almost  to  the  Euphrates  River,  which 
was  the  boundary  in  David's  time.  He  seerns  to  have  overrun 
the  Syrian  territory.  In  his  reign  prophesied  the  prophets 
Amos,  Hosea,  and  Jonah;  but  the  Old  Testament  book  of 
Jonah  was  written  later.  Jeroboam's  son,  Zachariah  (xv.  8-10) 
reigned  only  a  few  months ;  he  was  slain  by  conspirators,  and 
with  him  ended  the  dynasty  of  Jehu. 

The  most  important  political  event  of  this  period  is  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Assyrians  on  the  scene.  This  people  had  been 
growing  in  power  for  several  centuries,  and,  having  conquered 
their  immediate  neighbors,  had  begun  to  move  towards  Syria 
and  Canaan.  They  had  descended  as  far  as  Hamath  and 
defeated  the  Syrians ;  and  it  was  probably  in  part  because  the 
latter  were  thus  weakened  that  Jeroboam  II.  was  able  to  subdue 
them  (2  Kings  xiii.  5).  And  Israel  also  felt  the  strong  hand  of 
the  Assyrian.  It  is  mentioned  in  an  inscription  of  the  Assyrian 
king  Shalmaneser  (B.C.  842)  that  he  received  tribute  from  Jehu. 
Whether  Jehu's  descendants  also  paid  tribute  to  Assyria  we  do 
not  know.  As  yet  the  great  northern  power  only  hovered 
threateningly  in  the  distance.  The  prophets  saw  the  danger 
and  warned  Israel  (Amos  v.  27,  Hos.  ix.  3,  x.  6,  xi.  5);  but 
the  end  was  not  far  off. 

5.  Political  History  of  Judah.  —  In  Judah  during  this 
period  there  was  much  disorder  and  suffering.  King  Ahaziah 
joined  his  uncle  Jehoram,  king  of  Israel,  in  an  unsuccessful 
attack  on  the  Syrians  at  Ramoth  in  Gilead ;  the  two  kings  re- 
turned to  Jezreel  and  were  both  slain  by  Jehu.  Ahaziah's 
mother,  Athaliah,  then  seized  the  throne  and  put  to  death  all 
the  royal  family  except  Joash,  the  son  of  Ahaziah,  an  infant 
a  year  old,  who  was  concealed  in  the  temple  of  Yahwe  by  his 
aunt,  the  wife  of  the  priest  Jehoiada.  Having  succeeded  in 

4 


50  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

keeping  him  hidden  six  years,  they  made  a  plot,  killed  Athaliah, 
destroyed  the  temple  of  Baal,  and  placed  the  boy  Joash  on  the 
throne  (2  Kings  xi.).  For  many  years  the  fortune  of  war  was 
against  Judah.  Joash  had  to  buy  off  the  Syrians  with  the  gold 
and  silver  treasures  of  the  royal  palace  and  the  temple  of  Yah- 
\ve  (xii.  17,  18).  His  son  Amaziah  was  defeated  and  humbled 
by  Joash,  king  of  Israel  (xiv.  8-14).  According  to  the  book  of 
Chronicles,  the  next  king,  Azariah  or  Uzziah,  was  more  success- 
ful, subduing  the  Philistines,  Ammonites,  and  other  neighboring 
nations  (2  Chron.  xxvi.) ;  the  book  of  Kings  says  nothing  about 
this  (2  Kings  xv.  1-5).  Uzziah  was  contemporary  with  the  last 
of  the  Jehu  dynasty  in  Israel.  The  Assyrians  had  not  yet 
approached  Judah. 

6,  Religion  in  Judah.  —  We  have  seen  that  the  worship  of 
Baal  was  maintained  in  Jerusalem  by  the  Kings  Jehoram  and 
Ahaziah  and  Queen  Athaliah.  It  was  destroyed  by  Jehoiada, 
and  we  hear  nothing  further  of  it  till  after  the  death  of  Jotham, 
the  son  of  Uzziah.  Yahwe  was  zealously  worshipped ;  his  temple 
at  Jerusalem  was  repaired  by  Joash  (2  Kings  xii.).  However, 
there  were  high  places  all  over  the  land  where  the  people  sacri- 
ficed (xiv.  4,  xv.  4,  35).  This  was  not  considered  wrong  at  the 
time ;  it  was  the  worship  of  Yahwe.  Afterwards  it  came  to  be 
thought  wrong  to  worship  anywhere  but  at  Jerusalem;  and  so 
the  writer  of  the  book  of  Kings,  who  lived  at  that  later  time, 
always  blames  the  kings  for  allowing  the  high  places  to  stand. 
And  we  can  easily  see  that  they  would  lead  to  the  worship  of 
other  gods  than  Yahwe.  So,  for  example,  Beersheba  in  Judah 
was  the  seat  of  an  idolatrous  worship  (Amos  viii.  14). 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  political  and  religious  history,  see  the  books  already 
mentioned. 

2.  On  Assyria:    Rawlinson's  u  Ancient  Monarchies,-'  New 
York,  1871,  vol.  ii.,  99-121;    Smith's  "  Assyrian  Canon,"    and 
the  works  of  Schrader  mentioned  above.    - 

3.  Racine's  "  Athalie  "  will  help  somewhat  in  understanding 
the  times,  though  it  is  much  modernized. 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  51 


QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  conflict  forms  the  greater  part  of  the  history  of  the  religion  of 
Israel  ?    What  was  the  difference  between  the  two  religions  ?     Were  the 
prophets  right  in  opposing  Baalism  ?    Why  V 

2.  What  two  prophets  resolved  to  destroy  the  worship  of  Baal  in  Israel  ? 
In  order  to  do  this,  what  was  necessary  ?     Whom  did  they  select  as  their 
instrument  ?    On  what  did  they  count  ? 

3.  Was  the  plan  of  the  prophets  successful  ?     What  two  kings  did  Jehu 
kill?     About  what  time  did  this  happen?     What  stratagem  did  Jehu  employ 
in  order  to  slay  the  followers  of  Baal  V     Did  Baalism  ever  trouble  Israel  after 
this  ?     What  ally  did  Jehu  find  ?     What  was  the  manner  of  life  of  the  sons 
of  Rechab  ?     Why  did  they  fear  city  life  ? 

4.  What  is  a  dynasty  ?     How  long  did  the  dynasty  of  Jehu  last  ?    Was 
it  in  general   politically  prosperous  ?     Who  was  the  most  powerful  of  its 
kings  ?    How  far  did  his  territory  extend  ?     What  prophets  lived  in  his 
reign?     What  is  the  most  important  political  event  of  this  period  ?     Where 
did  the  Assyrians  live  ?    How  far  westward  and  southward  had  they  come  ? 
Had  they  weakened  the  Syrians?     What  king  of  Israel  paid  tribute  to  the 
Assyrians  ?     Did  the  prophets  see  danger  to  Israel  from  Assyria  ? 

5.  During  this  period  what  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Judah?     After 
the  death  of  Ahaziah  what  woman  seized  the  throne  ?     Who  was  she  ?     By 
whom  was  she  slain  V     Were  Joash,  Amaziah,  and  Uzziah  successful  in  war  ? 
Had  the  Assyrians  yet  approached  Judah  ? 

6.  Was  the  worship  of  Baal  still  maintained  in  Jerusalem  ?    Was  Yahwe 
zealously  worshipped  ?    Did  the  people  all  over  the  land  sacrifice  on  high 
places  ?     Why  was  this  not  thought  wrong  at  the  time?     Why  was  it  after- 
wards thought  wrong?     And,  in  fact,  would  it  be  likely  to  lead  to  idolatry? 
Can  you  mention  one  seat  of  idolatrous  worship  in  Judah?     Where  is  this 
mentioned  ? 


LESSON     X. 

THE  PROPHETS  AMOS  AND  HO  SEA. 

1.  Development  of  Israelitish  Literature.  —  None  of  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  we  now  have  them,  were  com- 
posed earlier  than  the  eighth  century  before  Christ  (B.C.  800- 
700).  The  Israelites  were  hardly  civilized  before  the  time  of 


52  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

Samuel  arid  David,  and  not  ready  to  write  books  for  a  century 
or  two  later.  We  find  that  nations  usually  begin  their  literary 
efforts  with  poetry,  short  songs  commemorating  festivals,  battles, 
and  other  remarkable  events.  Then  come  annals,  brief  records 
of  history  and  tradition.  Next  we  shall  probably  find  sayings 
and  discourses  of  wise  men  (sages  and  prophets).  Last  of  all 
we  have  law  books,  connected  histories,  long  poems,  and  philo- 
sophical discussions.  This  was,  in  general,  the  course  of  the 
literary  development  of  the  Israelites,  and  in  the  Old  Testament 
we  have  its  final  outcome.  First  there  were  short  pieces  like 
the  well-song  in  Num.  xxi.  17,  18,  and  then  longer  productions, 
as  in  Num.  xxi.  27-30,  Gen.  iv.  23,  24,  2  Sam.  i.  19-27, 
Judges  v.  When  the  kingdom  was  established,  there  were 
probably  attached  to  the  court  officers  whose  duty  it  was  to 
record  current  events  (2  Sam.  viii.  16,  17).  The  priests  and 
the  prophets  also  would  occupy  themselves  with  collecting  and 
writing  out  the  traditions  of  the  early  times.  It  was  about  at 
this  stage  that  the  Israelites  had  arrived  when  Jeroboam  II.  was 
reigning  in  the  northern  kingdom  and  Uzziah  in  the  southern. 
Many  traditions  had  grown  up  about  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob,  and  the  deliverance  from  Egypt.  Perhaps  at  this  time 
short  histories  of  the  patriarchs  began  to  be  written,  and  brief 
sketches  of  later  times,  together  with  lists  of  laws.  These  books 
have  all  perished,  but  their  substance  is  contained  in  our  present 
Pentateuch  and  historical  books. 

2.  The  Different  Sorts  of  Prophets  and  their  Writ- 
ings.—  It  marks  an  important  turning-point  in  the  history 
of  Israel  when  the  prophets  begin  to  record  their  discourses. 
There  had  been  prophets  since  the  days  of  Samuel,  and  they  had 
spoken  much.  But  what  they  said  had  been  confined  to  some 
passing  occurrence  ;  they  rebuked  kings  for  evil,  or  predicted 
disaster  or  blessing,  or  gave  counsel  in  emergencies.  The  num- 
ber of  prophets  was  very  great.  Obadiah  once  hid  a  hundred  of 
them  from  Jezebel  (1  Kings  xviii.  4),  and  four  hundred  proph- 
esied at  one  time  before  Ahab  (xxii.  6).  They  were  not  all  in 
the  service  of  Yahwe ;  Baal  and  Ashera  had  their  prophets 
(xviii.  19).  And  the  prophets  of  Yahwe  were  not  all  alike. 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  53 

The  predictions  and  discourses  of  some,  as  Zedekiah  in  1  Kings 
xxii.  11,  were  the  result  of  mere  patriotic  enthusiasm,  or  desire 
to  please  the  king  ;  while  others,  like  Micaiah  in  the  same  story, 
were  controlled  by  moral  considerations,  and  would  never  prom- 
ise Yahwe's  favor  to  any  but  those  who  did  right.  Almost  all 
the  prophets  whose  writings  have  been  preserved  belong  to  the 
latter  class.  At  first  no  record  was  kept  of  prophetic 

discourses  ;  we  have  no  books  from  Samuel,  Nathan,  Ahijah, 
Elijah,  Elisha,  and  Micaiah.  This  was  partly  because  the 
Israelites  were  not  accustomed  to  writing  in  those  early  days, 
and  partly  because  the  sayings  of  the  prophets  were  short  ,and 
disconnected,  and  related  to  single,  passing  occurrences.  But 
after  a  while  came  a  different  state  of  things.  Israel  advanced 
in  civilization  and  culture,  and  composition  was  more  practised. 
At  the  same  time  the  nation  came  into  closer  relations  with 
foreign  lands,  Egypt,  Syria,  Assyria.  Dangers  threatened  it 
from  these  great  powers.  Its  future  became  complicated  and 
doubtful.  Good  and  wise  men  began  to  ask  what  would  become 
of  their  people.  Their  God,  Yah  we,  was  powerful  —  why,  then, 
did  their  enemies  conquer  or  harass  them  ?  So  they  began  to 
see  that  God  was  not  only  mighty,  but  also  holy  and  just  ;  if 
his  people  would  prosper,  they  must  be  holy  also.  There  arose 
men  who  felt  themselves  sent  by  God  to  deliver  this  message  to 
the  people,  to  tell  them  that  they  were  suffering  because  they 
had  forsaken  the  commandments  of  the  holy  Yahwe.  They 
were  the  true  prophets.  Some  of  them  delivered  or  composed 
long  and  vigorous  discourses  (sermons,  we  should  call  them), 
and  these  were  written  down  and  preserved. 

3.  Amos.  —  The  first  of  the  writing  prophets  in  order  of 
time  is  Amos  (we  have  nothing  from  Jonah,  2  Kings  xiv.  25). 
According  to  the  superscription  of  his  book  (Amos  i.l),  he  was 
a  native  or  resident  of  Tekoa  in  the  south  of  Judah,  where  his 
business  was  to  tend  cattle  ;  he  was  not  a  menial,  but  the  owner 
of  herds.  There  were  in  those  days  schools  or  communities  where 
men  were  bred  to  the  profession  of  prophet,  by  which  some  of 
them  used  to  earn  their  living  ;  such  men  were  often  venal. 
Amos  was  not  one  of  them.  He  had  no  professional  education  ; 


54  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

the  word  of  Yahwe  came  into  his  soul  with  such  power  that  he 
must  needs  leave  his  herds,  and  go  and  preach  to  the  people 
(Amos  vii.  14,  15)  ;  so  the  Apostle  Paul  felt  (1  Cor.  ix.  16). 
His  prophecies  refer  to  both  Israel  and  Judah  ;  but  he  seems  to 
have  gone  up  to  Samaria  to  live,  and  to  have  addressed  himself 
chiefly  to  the  northern  kingdom.  It  was  while  Jeroboam  II. 
was  king  (about  B.C.  780).  Israel  was  comparatively  prosperous, 
and  Judah  was  in  adversity.  In  both  kingdoms  there  was  in- 
justice and  other  wickedness,  and  in  neither  was  the  pure  wor- 
ship of  Yahwe  maintained ;  Israel  worshipped  him  under  the 
form  of  a  calf  at  Bethel  and  Dan,  and  Judah  practised  idolatry 
at  Beersheba  and  elsewhere. 

Amos's  words  to  Israel  are  stern.  After  denouncing  punish- 
ment on  Damascus,  the  Philistines,  Tyre,  Edom,  Ammon,  Moab, 
and  Judah  (i.,  ii.),  he  turns  to  Israel,  describes  its  ingratitude, 
idolatry,  and  injustice  (ii.-v.),  and  predicts  captivity  and  other 
calamity  (vi.-ix.).  But  at  the  end  (ix.  11-15)  he  says  that  Judah 
shall  be  established  in  prosperity  as  in  the  days  of  old,  and  Israel 
shall  be  restored  to  its  land,  and  dwell  there  forever.  Yahwe, 
who  reveals  his  secret  to  his  servants  the  prophets  (iii.  7),  will 
do  this.  Yahwe,  he  says,  is  lord  of  all  nations,  not  of  Israel 
only.  Amos's  style  is  vivid  and  bright.  His  prophecies  (which 
were  not  all  delivered  at  once)  were  probably  collected  after 
his  death. 

4.  Hosea.  —  Hosea,  who  was  a  younger  contemporary  of 
Amos  (about  B.C.  775-725),  also  addresses  himself  chiefly  to 
the  northern  kingdom.  We  know  nothing  of  his  origin  and  life  ; 
but  we  can  see  from  his  book  that  he  was  of  a  different  nature 
from  Amos.  He  pleads  tenderly  with  his  people  to  forsake  their 
evil.  His  tone  is  one  of  loving  sorrow.  He  sees  that  Israel 
must  suffer  punishment  for  its  sin,  but  he  grieves  over  the  sad 
condition  of  things.  He  makes  prominent  Yahwe's  love  for  his 
people.  He  has  many  references  to  the  old  times ;  he  speaks  a 
great  deal  of  the  patriarch  Jacob  especially  (xii.).  With  all  his 
tenderness  he  can  be  sharply  severe  ;  he  does  not  try  to  excuse 
the  people's  sin  :  "  Shall  I  ransom  them  from  the  hand  of  Sheol? 
shall  I  redeem  them  from  death  ?  Where  are  thy  plagues,  O 


RELIGION    OP    ISRAEL.  5o 

death  ?  where  thy  pestilence,  O  Sheol?  repentance  shall  be  hid 
from  my  eyes  "  (xiii.  14).  In  his  days  Assyria  began  to  threaten 
Israel,  and  he  predicts  that  they  shall  be  conquered  and  carried 
away  captive  by  this  people  (ix.  3,  xi.  5).  He  closes  with  a  word 
of  love  and  promise  (xiv.  4-8).  Some  man,  who  edited  his  book, 
added  at  the  end  an  exhortation  to  the  reader  (xiv.  9). 

5.  The  Influence  of  Amos  and  Hosea.  —  Thus  these  two 
prophets  strove  to  hold  their  people  to  the  worship  of  Yah  we 
alone.  And  more,  they  speak  of  Yah  we  as  a  holy  God,  who  will 
not  endure  wickedness.  In  this  way  they  laid  the  foundations 
of  pure  monotheism.  Perhaps  they  thought  that  the  Baals  and 
the  other  deities  were  real  gods  ;  but  Yah  we  they  believed  stood 
above  them  all  in  ethical  qualities,  and  after  a  while  Israel  came 
to  see  that  they  are  not  gods  at  all,  but  only  names. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  Israeli tish  prophecy  :  the  books  mentioned  in  Lesson 
VI.  ;   W.  Robertson  Smith's  "Old  Testament   in  the  Jewish 
Church,"  New  York,  1881  ;  Fairbairn's  "  Prophecy." 

2.  On  Amos  and  Hosea  :  the  commentaries  of  Steiner,  1881 
(u  Kurzgef  asstes  Exegetisches  Handbuch  "),  Lange,  and  Pusey, 
and    the    "Speaker's    Commentary;"    Heilprin's    "Historical 
Poetry  of    the   Ancient   Hebrews,"    New  York,    1879,    1880  ; 
Duhm's    "  Theologie   der    Propheten,"    Bonn,    1875  ;    W.    R. 
Smith's  "Prophets  of  Israel." 

3.  On  the  earliest  writings  :  the  Introductions  of  De  Wette- 
Schrader,    Berlin,  1869,  and  Bleek-Wellhausen,  Berlin,   1878; 
Heilprin's  work  above  mentioned. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  When  were  the  earliest  of  our  Old  Testament  books  composed  ?  How 
do  nations  usually  begin  their  literary  efforts  V  What  comes  after  this  ? 
Was  this  the  case  with  the  Israelites  ?  What  men  wrote  down  the  annals 
and  traditions  ?  Did  the  Israelites  perhaps  have  brief  historical  and  legal 
writings  in  the  days  of  Jeroboam  II.  and  Uzziah  ?  Do  any  of  thess  older 
books  now  exist  V 


56  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE 

2.  Did  the  earliest  prophets  speak  much  ?  On  what  occasions  ?  Was 
the  number  of  prophets  great  ?  Did  other  gods  besides  Yahwe  have 
prophets  ?  Were  the  prophets  of  Yahwe  all  alike  ?  What  was  the  difference 
between  Zedekiah  and  Micaiah,  for  instance  V  Did  the  earlier  prophets 
compose  books  ?  Why  not  ?  What  change  came  about  in  Israel's  literary 
culture  and  general  condition  ?  When  Israel  suffered,  what  did  the  true 
prophets  say  was  the  reason  ?  Was  it  a  great  step  forward  when  they  be- 
gan to  talk  about  the  holiness  of  Yahwe  V 

3  Wrho  is  the  earliest  of  the  writing  prophets  ?  Where  was  he  born, 
and  what  was  his  business  ?  Was  he  a  professional  prophet  ?  Why  did  he 
preach  ?  Where  did  he  prophesy  ?  Under  what  king  ?  What  was  the 
condition  of  Israel  at  this  time?  —  the  condition  of  Judah  ?  What  is  the 
tone  of  Anios's  words  to  Israel  ?  What  hope  does  he  hold  out  to  Judah  and 
Israel  ?  Does  he  call  Yahwe  the  lord  of  all  nations  ?  Is  this  an  advance 
out  of  national  religious  narrowness  ? 

4.  What  was  the  date  of  Hosea's  prophecies  ?    To  which  kingdom  did 
he  chiefly  address  himself  ?    Was  his  disposition  like  that  of  Amos  ?    What 
is  his  tone  ?     What  quality  of  Yahwe  does  he  make  prominent  ?     Is  he  also 
sometimes  severe  ?    What  does  he  say  of  Assyria  ? 

5.  What  did  Amos  and  Hosea  try  to  do  V    How  did  they  speak  of 
Yahwe  V    How  did  they  lay  the  foundations  of  pure  monotheism  ? 


LESSON    XL 

THE   FALL  OF  ISRAEL.     AHAZ  AND   HEZEKIAH  IN" 
JUDAH. 

1.  The  Fall  of  the  Northern  Kingdom.  —  After  the  death 
of  Jeroboam  II.  (about  B.C.  744)  the  kingdom  of  Israel  rapidly 
declined.  The  throne  was  occupied  for  twenty  years  by  a  series 
of  worthless  kings.  There  were  constant  wars,  intrigues,  and 
murders.  King  Pekah  of  Israel  twice  joined  the  Syrians  in 
attacks  on  Judah ;  the  second  attack,  which  was  directed  against 
Ahaz  (about  B.C.  734),  bailed  completely  (2  Kings  xvi.  5,  Is. 
vii.  1).  Ahaz  called  in  the  aid  of  the  Assyrian  king  Tiglath- 
pileser  II.,  who  in  B.C.  732  captured  Damascus  and  destroyed  the 
kingdom  of  Syria.  For  about  230  years  (that  is,  ever  since  the 
death  of  Solomon)  the  Syrians  had  been  a  thorn  in  the  side  of 
Israel.  But  Israel  gained  nothing  by  their  destruction  ;  they 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  57 

had,  in  fact,  of  late  years  been  a  barrier  between  it  and  the 
Assyrians,  and  now,  the  barrier  removed,  Israel  was  at  the 
mercy  of  the  huge  northern  empire.  The  end  was  not  long  de- 
layed. In  the  year  729  B.C.  Hoshea  (the  name  is  the  same  as 
that  of  the  prophet  Hosea)  ascended  the  throne  of  Samaria. 
He  was  a  well-meaning  man,  and  seems  to  have  struggled  hard 
to  maintain  his  country's  independence.  He  adhered  to  the 
worship  of  Yahwe,  and  even  attempted  some  reform  (2  Kings 
xvii.  2).  Seeing  the  overwhelming  power  of  Assyria,  he 
acknowledged  himself  the  vassal  of  Shalrnaneser  (who  was  now 
on  the  throne),  and  paid  him  tribute.  But  soon  after,  he  made 
the  mistake  of  rebelling  against  Shalmaneser,  and  entering  into 
alliance  with  Sabak  (called  in  the  Old  Testament  So),  the 
Kusbite  king  of  Egypt.  The  Assyrians  advanced  against  Israel, 
and  in  B.C.  720  Sargon,  who  had  succeeded  Shalmaneser,  cap- 
tured Samaria,  and  then  inflicted  a  decisive  defeat  on  the 
Egyptians.  The  people  of  Israel  were  carried  away  and  settled 
in  Assyria,  while  men  were  brought  from  Assyria  and  settled  in 
Samaria  and  round  about  (2  Kings  xvii.  24).  So  the  Assyrians 
used  to  do  with  all  the  nations  they  conquered. 

2.  The  Fate  of  the  Israelites.  —  Thus  ended  the  kingdom 
of  Israel  after  an  existence  of  about  240  years  (B.C.  960-720). 
It  had  lived  a  troublous  life,  full  of  wars  without  and  disorders 
within.  It  had  produced  strong  religious  men  like  Elijah, 
Elisha,  and  Hosea,  and  able  kings,  like  Jeroboam  L,  Jehu,  and 
Jeroboam  II.  But  its  religious  career  ended  prematurely,  before 
it  had  attained  the  knowledge  of  the  one  God.  Its  peo- 

ple, however,  were  not  destroyed.  Some  of  them  remained  in 
their  own  land  and  intermarried  with  the  Assyrian  colonists, 
and  from  them  sprang  the  Samaritans,  of  whom  we  read  in  the 
book  of  Nehemiah  and  the  Gospels.  Others  who  were  left  in 
the  land  probably  went  down  into  Judah  and  settled.  Those 
who  were  carried  into  Assyria  settled  there  permanently.  Some 
of  them  intermarried  with  the  inhabitants  and  ceased  to  be 
Israelites.  Others,  no  doubt,  joined  the  people  of  Judah  who 
were  afterwards  carried  to  Babylon  by  Nebuchadnezzar.  Those 
of  them  who  remained  faithful  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers 


58  THE    HISTORY   OP   THE 

helped  to  form  a  distinct  community  which  lasted  hundreds  of 
years.  They  had  great  schools  for  the  study  of  their  law. 
Here  they  remained  till  after  the  Moslem  conquest,  and  then 
made  their  way  into  Egypt  and  Spain,  and  thence  into  France 
and  Germany.  The  Ten  Tribes  are  no  doubt  now  represented 
to  some  extent  in  the  Jews  who  are  found  all  over  the  world. 

3.  Political  History  of  Judah  under  Ahaz  and  Heze- 
kiah.  —  Israel  had  passed  away,  but  the  kingdom  of  Judah  was 
to  remain  for  130  years  yet.  It  was  saved  from  overthrow,  first 
by  submission  to  the  Assyrians,  and  then  by  the  fact  that  the 
latter  were  occupied  by  wars  with  Egypt  and  other  nations. 
The  reigns  of  Uzziah  and  his  son  Jotham  (B.C.  780-740)  were 
comparatively  quiet.  Then  came  Ahaz,  who  was  attacked  by 
the  Syrians  and  Israelites,  and  called  on  the  Assyrian  king  for 
aid.  The  latter  helped  him,  and  Ahaz  visited  him  as  his  vassal 
at  Damascus  (2  Kings  xvi.  10).  In  the  year  B.C.  726  Ahaz 
died  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Hezekiah.  It  was  a  time 
that  called  for  skill,  decision,  and  bravery.  The  Assyrians  were 
overrunning  the  whole  of  southwestern  Asia,  nor  could  the 
Egyptians  stand  before  them.  Hezekiah 's  only  military  hope 
was  in  the  quarrels  of  his  powerful  neighbors  and  the  strength 
of  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  Against  the  petty  peoples  around 
Judah,  such  as  the  Philistines,  he  was  successful  in  war,  and  in 
his  later  years  he  made  an  alliance  with  the  king  of  Babylon 
(2  Kings  xx.  12,  13),  who  was  at  that  time  (about  B.C.  710  or 
704)  in  revolt  against  Assyria.  Some  years  later  the  Assyrian 
king  Sennacherib  overran  the  territory  of  Judah,  and  besieged 
Jerusalem,  but  retired  when  Hezekiah  acknowledged  his  author- 
ity, and  paid  him  a  large  sum  in  silver  and  gold.  The  Jewish 
king  thereupon  made  a  treaty  with  the  Kushite  (Ethiopian) 
Tirhakah,  who  then  ruled  over  Egypt,  and  revolted  from  Sennach- 
erib. The  latter  then  again  invaded  Palestine,  and,  marching 
by  Jerusalem,  went  to  meet  the  Egyptian  army.  On  the  eve  of 
battle,  however,  the  Assyrian  host  was  overwhelmed  by  some 
dreadful  calamity  (2  Kings  xix.),  the  nature  of  which  is  not 
known,  and  Sennacherib  returned  home  (B  c.  701).  Soon  after 
this  Hezekiah  died  (B.C.  697),  and  the  land  had  rest. 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  59 

4.  Religious  History  of  Judah.  —  Judah's  religious  history 
during  the  latter  part  of  this  century  comprises  two  important 
events:  a  reaction  by  Ahaz,  and  a  reform  by  Hezekiah.  Aliaz 
re-established  the  old  Canaanite  custom  of  human  sacrifice  (per- 
haps it  was  also  an  old  Israelite  custom),  and  resumed  worship 
in  the  high  places  (2  Kings  xvi.  3,  4).  Possibly  in  this  he  was 
imitating  the  idolatry  of  his  friends  the  Assyrians ;  and  the 
people  would  not  be  slow  to  follow  his  example.  Seeing  an  altar 
that  he  liked  at  Damascus,  he  sent  orders  to  the  priest  Urijah  to 
make  a  similar  one  for  the  temple  of  Yahwe  at  Jerusalem 
(2  Kings  xvi.  10-10).  The  priest  obeyed,  and  the  king  pre- 
scribed the  sacrificial  service.  All  this  was  regarded  as  lawful 
worship  of  Yahwe ;  it  seems  that  the  strict  rules  of  the  book  of 
Leviticus  did  not  exist  at  this  time.  But  when  Heze- 

kiah came  to  the  throne  everything  was  changed.  Fortunately 
he  was  the  obedient  pupil  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  who  was  zealous 
for  the  worship  of  Yahwe.  All  images  of  gods  and  pillars 
erected  to  Ashera  were  destroyed.  Among  others  there  was  a 
bronze  serpent  that  had  long  been  an  object  of  worship,  and  was 
said  to  have  been  made  by  Moses  for  a  particular  purpose  (Num. 
xxi.  9) ;  Hezekiah  broke  it  in  pieces,  calling  it  contemptuously 
nehushtan,  "  a  bronze  thing."  He  went  farther,  and  removed 
the  high  places,  where  the  people  had  worshipped  Yahwe  from 
time  immemorial.  This  seemed  to  many  persons  a  violent  pro- 
cedure, —  it  appeared  to  be  breaking  up  the  worship  of  Yahwe; 
and  this  was  the  report  that  the  Assyrians  had  of  it  (2  Kings 
xviii.  22).  But  Hezekiah  suppressed  these  local  places  of  wor- 
ship in  order  to  force  his  people  to  come  up  to  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  where  it  would  be  possible  to  guard  against  idolatry. 
It  was  a  step  in  the  right  direction ;  and  though  the  next  king 
returned  to  the  old  practices,  and  the  reform  was  not  completed 
for  eighty  years,  Hezekiah  laid  the  foundation  of  the  work. 

LITERATURE. 

The  commentaries  on  Kings  and  histories  above  mentioned, 
especially  Lange,  Schrader,  George  Smith,  and  Tiele.  Also 
Cheyne's  "  Prophecies  of  Isaiah,"  London,  1880. 


60  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 


QUESTIONS. 

1.  After  the  death  of  Jeroboam  II.,  what  was  the  fortune  of  Israel? 
When  Israel  and  Syria  attacked  Ahaz,  king  of  Judah,  whom  did  he  call  to 
his  aid  ?    What  became  of  the  kingdom  of  Syria  ?     Did  its  destruction  help 
Israel  ?    Who  was  the  last  king  of  Israel  ?     What  was  his  character  ?    Why 
did  he  submit  to  Assyria  ?    What  mistake  did  he  afterwards  make  ?    What 
was  the  result  ?    In  what  year  was  Samaria  captured  by  Sargon  ?    Is  this 
date  tolerably  certain  V     [Yes,  it  is  assured  by  the  Assyrian  inscriptions.] 
What  became  of  the  people  of  Israel  ? 

2.  How  long  did  the  kingdom  of  Israel  endure  ?     Did  it  produce  great 
men  ?    Did  it  reach  clear  religious  knowledge  ?     Were  its  people  all  de- 
stroyed?   What  became  of  those  who  remained  in  their  own  land?  —  of 
those  who  were  carried  away  to  Assyria  ?    Where  are  they  now  ?    What 
would  you  say  of  attempts  to  find  the  Ten  Tribes  in  various  Asiatic,  Euro- 
pean, or  American  nations  ?     [Such  attempts  are  folly.] 

3.  How  long  did  the  kingdom  of  Judah  last  after  the  fall  of  Israel  ? 
How  was  it  saved  from  overthrow  ?     What  was  Ahaz's  career  ?     Who  was 
his  son  and  successor  ?     When  did  he  ascend  the  throne  ?    Was  Hezekiah 
successful  against  his  petty  neighbors  ?     Was  he  obliged  to  submit  to  the 
Assyrians  ?    What  became  of  the  Assyrian  army? 

4.  What  two  important  events  occurred  in  this  period?    Describe  the  re- 
action of  Ahaz  ?     Was  this  then  thought  to  be  lawful  ?    When  Hezekiah 
came  to  the  throne,  did  he  follow  his  father's  example  ?     Who  was  his  chief 
adviser  in  religion  ?    What  did   he  do  to  the  images  ?  —  to  the  bronze  ser- 
pent ?    What.is  the  story  about  Moses  and  this  serpent  ?     Did  Hezekiah 
suffer  the  high  places  to  remain  ?     Why  not  ? 


LESSON    XII. 

THE  PROPHETS  MICAH  AND  ISAIAH. 

1.  The  Groups  of  Prophets.  —  The  prophets  were  preach- 
ers, but  preachers  of  a  peculiar  sort:  their  discourses  were 
always  addressed  to  the  nation.  They  denounced  its  vices,  and 
they  looked  forward  to  and  depicted  its  future.  Thus  they  were 
eminently  men  of  their  times,  and  the  tone  of  their  writings 
varies  according  to  the  changing  outward  and  inward  circum- 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  61 

stances  of  the  people.  We  may  group  them  by  historical  periods, 
each  period  having  certain  political  and  religious  characteristics : 
1.  The  prophets  of  the  Jehu  dynasty,  Amos  and  Hosea,  when 
the  fall  of  Israel  was  impending;  2.  The  Judah  prophets  of 
the  first  Assyrian  attack,  Micah  and  Isaiah  I.,  after  whom,  at  a 
later  time,  follows  Nahum;  3.  The  prophets  of  the  Chaldean 
period,  Zephaniah,  Habakkuk,  Jeremiah,  Obadiah;  4.  The 
prophets  of  the  Exile,  Ezekiel  and  Isaiah  II. ;  5.  The  prophets 
of  the  return,  Haggai  and  Zechariah  I;  6.  The  prophets  of  the 
legal  period,  Malachi,  Joel,  Zechariah  II. 

2.  The  Times  of  Micah  and  Isaiah.  —  Before  studying 
the  writings  of  Micah  and  Isaiah,  let  us  look  at  the  circumstances 
of  their  time,  and  the  ideas  these  circumstances  gave  rise  to. 
Judah  was  now  beginning  to  be  a  part  of  the  great  world. 
Heretofore  it  had  been  an  isolated  little  land,  warring  with 
tribes  around  it,  but  mostly  unknown  to  and  ignorant  of  the 
great  empires.  Now  approaches  the  time  when  it  is  to  be  ab- 
sorbed into  the  world's  history.  It  is  to  fall  into  the  clutches 
of  Assyria,  and  then  into  the  hands  of  the  Babylonians,  Persians, 
Greeks,  and  Romans.  In  our  survey  of  the  history  we  have 
come  to  the  starting-point  of  this  process,  —  the  first  attack  on 
Judah  by  Assyria.  The  question  was,  what  to  do.  Isaiah  and 
his  friends  said,  "  Keep  clear  of  foreign  alliances,  trust  Yah  we, 
and  he  will  take  care  of  his  people;"  but  Hezekiah  did  not 
follow  their  advice.  This  was  the  burden  of  the 

prophets'  cry:  "  We  are  Yahwe's  people,  and  he  will  give  us 
victory  over  our  enemies,  and  peace  and  prosperity."  And  as 
the  present  did  not  offer  this  prosperity,  they  looked  to  the  future 
for  its  incoming,  and  painted  a  glorious  time  of  triumph  and 
joy.  In  the  different  historical  periods  this  time  of  joy  was 
portrayed  in  different  forms.  The  peculiarity  of  the  portraiture 
in  Hezekiah 's  time  is  that  Judah 's  glory  is  expected  to  be 
ushered  in  by  an  individual  king,  a  descendant  of  David.  For 
the  king  was  the  natural  head  of  the  nation,  and  it  was  the 
house  of  David  that  God  had  placed  on  the  throne.  Afterwards 
this  royal  deliverer  was  called  the  "anointed  one,"  or  the 
Messiah  (kings  were  anointed  with  oil  at  their  coronation)  ;  and 


62  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

so  we  generally  call  this  expectation  of  future  glory  for  the  peo- 
ple the  Messianic  hope  of  Israel. 

3.  Micah.  —  Of  Micah  we  know  only  what  is  stated  in  the 
inscription  of  his  prophecy  (and  we  cannot  be  always  sure  that 
these  inscriptions  are  wholly  correct),  that   he  preached  in  the 
days  of  Kings  Jotham,  Ahaz,  and  Hezekiah  (perhaps  about  B.C. 
745-702),  with  one  little  incident  recorded  in  Jer.  xxvi.  18,  19. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  sad  and  passionate  man  (i.  8)  ;  it  is 
vengeance  on  sin  that  he  mostly  speaks  of.     The  outline  of  his 
book  is  this:    after  denouncing  the  sin  of  Israel  and  Judah,  he 
describes  a  march  of  the  Assyrians  through  the  territory  of  Judah 
(i.  9-16),  with  many  plays  on  the  names  of  the  various  places; 
it  is  hard  to  say  whether  this  march  is  real  or  imagined.     Next 
comes  a  terrible  picture  of   the  wickedness  of  the  people  (ii., 
iii.),  and  then  he  turns  to  tell  of  the  glorious  time  when  many 
nations  should  give  up  their  own  gods  and  worship  Yahwe,  and 
wars  should  cease  (iv.  1-5).     Zion's  enemies  were  then  pressing 
her  hard,  and  an  Assyrian  attack  was  expected,  but  the  prophet 
comforts  himself  with  thought  of   that  king,    of   the   ancient 
family  of  David,  who  should  conquer  the  Assyrians  (iv.  11-v.  8). 
In  later  times  this  was  supposed  to  refer  to  Christ  (Mat.  ii.  4-6)  ; 
but,  though  Christ  was  a  great  deliverer,  it  is  not  probable  that 
the  prophet  is  referring  to  him  here.     Micah 's  last  discourses 
have  much  to  say  about  holiness  of  life  (see  the  noble  thought 
in  vi.  8).     Society  in  his  time  was  very  corrupt,  but  he  looks 
hopefully  to  God's  mercy  (vii.  18-20).     Notice  the  references 
to  the  ancient  times  (vi.  4,  5,  vii   15,  20). 

4.  The  Life  of  Isaiah.  —  The  prophet  Isaiah  is  one  of  the 
greatest  figures  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  his  book  one  of  the 
noblest,  from  the  extent,  vigor,  eloquence,  and  lofty  religious 
sentiment  of  its  discourses.     He  had  a  long  career,  beginning 
in  Uzziah's  last  year  (Is.  vi.  1),  and  reaching  probably  to  the 
close  of  Hezekiah's  reign,   about  B.C.  750-700.     There  was  a 
tradition  that  he  wrote  the  annals  of  Hezekiah's  time  (2  Chron. 
xxxii.  32).     But  it  is  as  prophet  and  statesman  that  he  is  known 
to  us.      Disregarded  by  Ahaz   (Is.  vii.    12),  he  became  Heze- 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  63 

kiah's  chief  adviser  (2  Kings  xix.  2,  xx.  1,  14),  warned  him 
against  trusting  to  Egypt  and  other  nations,  and,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  Sennacherib's  invasion,  counselled  him  to  resist  the 
Assyrians  and  trust  in  Yah  we.  For  half  a  century  his  voice 
was  lifted  up  against  the  idolatry  and  wickedness  of  his  people, 
against  religious  formalism,  for  purity  and  holiness  (see  chap.  i.). 
He  looked  steadfastly  forward  to  the  triumph  of  holiness  in  the 
triumph  of  the  pure  worship  of  Yah  we. 

5.  Isaiah's  Prophecies.  —  The  book  of  the  Old  Testament 
to  which  Isaiah's  name  is  attached  is  a  long  one,  of  sixty-six 
chapters.     But  not  all  of  this  was  written  by  our  prophet.     The 
second  part,  chapters  xl.-lxvi.,  is  the  work  of  a  prophet  of  the 
Exile,  whom  we  will  call  the  Second  Isaiah  (Isaiah  II.).     It  is 
probable,  also,  that  the  historical  chapters,  xxxvi.-xxxix.,  which 
are  interposed  between  the  two  parts,  belong  to  the  same  period 
(though  they  may  be  based  on  notes  made  by  Isaiah  or  one  of 
his  contemporaries) ;    they  are   nearly  identical  with  2   Kings 
xviii.  13-xx.     Of  the  remaining  thirty-five  chapters,  we  must 
leave  out  xiii.  and  xiv.  1-23,  xv.  and  xvi.  1-12,  and  probably 
xxi.,  xxxiv.,  xxxv.     There  still  remains  enough  to  illustrate  the 
prophet's  genius  and  piety.     Among  the  more  striking  discourses 
may  be  mentioned  the  call  to  repentance  in  chapter  i.,  the  woes, 
in  v.,  the  prediction  of  Assyria's  overthrow,  in  x.,  and  the  picture 
of  the  days  of  the  righteous  king,  in  xi. ;  and  the  vision,  in  vi., 
and  the  prophet's  symbolical  children,  in  vii.  and  viii.,  are  not 
less  interesting.     The  discourses  must  be  read  not  by  chapters, 
but  as  wholes,  and  it  must  be  remembered  that  Isaiah  had  in 
mind  on  the  one  hand  Israel's  political  enemies,  and  on  the  other, 
the  idolatry,  formality,  and  wickedness  of  the  people. 

6.  Isaiah's  Hope  of  the  Future.  —  And  to  what  future  did 
the  prophet  look  forward  for  his  people  ?     He  expected  political 
independence  and  prosperity  under  a  Davidic  king.     He  speaks 
of  a  prince  born  or  to  be  born  in  his  own  time  (ix.  6,  7),  under 
whom  Israel  should  conquer  its  enemies,  peace  should  prevail, 
Yah  we  should  be  worshipped  everywhere,  and  even  wild  beasts 
and  serpents  should  become  harmless  (xi.).     And  there  should 


64  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

then  be  righteousness  and  holiness  in  the  land.  These  hopes  of 
the  prophet  were  not  literally  fulfilled.  Egypt  was  never  united 
with  Assyria  in  the  worship  of  Yah  we  (xix.  21-25).  No  son  of 
David  was  ever  after  to  be  a  conquering  king.  But  in  its  broad 
scope  what  the  prophet  looked  for  has  really  come  to  pass.  The 
purified  knowledge  of  the  one  true  God  has  been  established  in 
the  earth.  Out  of  Israel  came  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  Messiah, 
the  Christ,  who  has  taught  us  to  worship  the  Father,  and  has 
founded  a  kingdom  more  glorious  and  enduring  than  was  ever 
dreamed  of  by  king  or  prophet.  Isaiah's  trust  in  God's  right- 
eousness and  faithfulness  was  not  a  mistake. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  OnMicah:  the  general  commentaries  mentioned  in  Lesson 
X.  2;  Noyes. 

2.  On  Isaiah:  Delitzsch's  Commentary,  English  translation, 
Edinburgh,  1869;   Cheyne's  "Prophecies  of  Isaiah,"  London, 
1880;  Noyes. 

3.  Maurice's  "  Prophets  and  Kings  of  the  Old  Testament," 
Boston,  1853;  Ewald's  "Prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,"  Eng- 
lish translation,  London,  1875;  W.  R.   Smith's  "Prophets  of 
Israel,"  New  York,  1882  ;  articles  on  Micah  and  Isaiah  in  cyclo- 
pedias; books  of  Introduction. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  was  the  peculiarity  of  the  prophets  as  preachers  ?    Do  their 
discourses   vary  in    character    according    to  the   times  ?      How  may  we 
group  them  ?    How  many  groups  ?     Can  you  mention  the  prophets  of  each 
group  ? 

2.  Before  studying  the  writings  of  the  prophets,  what  is  it  proper  to 
learn  ?     When   Assyria  attacked   Judah,   what  did   Isaiah  counsel  ?     In 
whose  help  did  he  trust?    Did  Judah  attain  to  prosperity  immediately? 
When  the  present  did  not  bring  peace,  to  what  point  did  the  prophets  look? 
With  what  did  the  prophet's  picture  of  future  joy  vary?    What  was  its 
form  in  the  days  of  Micah  and  Isaiah  ?     What  is  meant  by  the  Messianic 
hope  of  Israel  ? 

3.  What  do  we  know  of  Micah' s  life?    What  incident  concerning  him 
is  recorded  in  the  book  of  Jeremiah  ?    What  was  his  character?    By  whom 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  65 

does  he  expect  Yahwe  to  deliver  Judah  from  the  Assyrians  ?  [iv.  2-v.  8.] 
To  whom  did  the  early  Christians  think  this  referred?  Is  this  view  correct? 
Can  3'ou  mention  a  noble  passage  in  Micah's  writings  V 

4.  Was  Isaiah  a  great  man  ?     Why?    How  long  did  he  prophesy?    Did 
he  write  any  book  of  history  ?    Was  he  a  faithful  preacher  ? 

5.  How  many  chapters  in  the  book  called  by  Isaiah's  name  ?    Were  all 
these  written  by  him?    How  many  must  we  leave  out  ?    Why  ?     [Because 
they  contain  things  that  do  not  belong  to  his  time.]     Can  you  describe  the 
vision  of  chapter  vi.  ?    How  do  we  determine  the  date  of  any  particular 
chapter  V     [By  noting  the  historical  allusions.]     What  history  helps  very 
much  in  this  V     [The  Assyrian.] 

6.  What  did  Isaiah  expect  for  his  people  ?    Were  these  hopes  ever  lit- 
erally fulfilled  V    In  what  sense  have  they  been  fulfilled  ?    Did  Isaiah  say 
that  the  knowledge  of  God  should  fill  the  earth?     [Chap.  xi.  9.]     Is  this 
now  nearly  true  ?    Did  Isaiah  look  for  a  righteous  king  ?    Has  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  founded  a  kingdom  ?    What  is  its  nature  ? 


LESSON    XIII. 

THE  REFORM  OF  JOSIAH. 

1.   Partial    Character    of    Hezekiah's   Reform.  —  In   the 

Lesson  before  the  last  we  saw  that  King  Hezekiah,  probably 
under  the  influence  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  tried  to  better  the 
national  worship  of  Judah  by  destroying  the  idols  all  over  the 
land.  The  effect  of  this  procedure  was  to  direct  men's  minds 
to  Jerusalem  as  the  centre  of  worship  for  the  whole  nation. 
True,  the  people  were  attached  to  the  old  shrines,  which  were 
more  or  less  idolatrous  ;  but  in  those  troublous  times,  when 
powerful  enemies  were  threatening  the  land,  and  Jerusalem  was 
the  only  safe  place,  it  was  easier  for  the  reform  party  to  put 
down  the  local  sanctuaries,  and  insist  on  the  worship  of  Yahwe, 
whose  great  temple  was  in  the  national  capital.  We 

must  not  suppose,  however,  that  Hezekiah's  reform  was  spiritual, 
like  Luther's  ;  it  did  not  attempt  to  teach  men  that  God  was  to 
be  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth  (though  Isaiah  did  insist  on 
this),  but  only  to  abolish  the  worship  of  foreign  deities.  And 

5 


66  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

even  in  this  outward  respect  it  was  not  thorough  ;  we  learn  from 
2  Kings  xxiii.  13,  that  it  was  not  Hezekiah  but  Josiah  who 
destroyed  the  shrines  that  Solomon  had  long  before  built  to 
Ashtoreth,  Chemosh,  and  Milcom. 

2.  The  Reaction  under  Manasseh.  —  Moreover,  it  appears 
that  what  was  done  was  the  work  of  a  reform  party  rather  than 
a  movement  of  the  nation.     The  prophets,  with  Isaiah  at  their 
head,  prevailed  on  the  king  to  take  vigorous  measures  against 
the  idols,  but  it  was  not  so  easy  to  bring  the  people  to  give  up 
the  forms  of  worship  that  they  had  inherited  from  their  fathers. 
And  so,  when  Hezekiah  died,  about  B.C.  697,  his  son  and  suc- 
cessor, Manasseh,  set  about  restoring  the  former  condition  of 
things  (2  Kings  xxi.).     He  rebuilt  the   high  places  which  his 
father  had  destroyed,  re-established  the  Canaanitish  worship  of 
Baal  and  the  Ashera  images,   together  with   magic  arts   and 
human  sacrifices  ;  and  further,  in  addition  to  Ahaz's  sun-wor- 
ship (2  Kings  xxiii.  11,   12),  he  introduced  the  fuller  worship 
of   the  hosts  of  heaven  (sun,  moon,  and  stars).  He 
did  not  do  all  this  without  opposition.     The  Yahwe  party  with- 
stood him  with  all  their  might.      We  do  not  know  whether 
Isaiah  was  still  alive  (there  is  a  late  story  that  he  was  sawn 
asunder  by  Manasseh),    but  his   disciples  (Is.    viii.    16),   the 
prophets  and  others,  no  doubt  tried  to  continue  his  work.     The 
king  was  not  a  mild-natured  man,  aud  could  not  brook  opposi- 
tion ;  he  put  to  death  those  who  stood  in  his  way.     The  blood 
of  the  Yahwe  party  flowed  freely  in  Jerusalem.     Not  that  he 
refused  to  serve  the  God  of  Israel ;  but  he  chose  to  serve  other 
gods  as  well;  and  the  people  doubtless  approved  his  course.     So 
it  went  on  throughout  his  long  reign  of  fifty-five  years.     The 
book   of   Chronicles   says,  indeed  (2   Chron.   xxxiii.),  that  he 
repented  and  destroyed  the  idols ;  but  this  does  not  agree  with 
the  succeeding  history  as  given  in  the  book  of  Kings  (compare 
2  Kings  xxiii.  12,  with  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  15).     His  son  and  suc- 
cessor, Amon,  followed  his  father's  example. 

3.  Progress  of  the  Yahwe  Party.  —  It  might  thus  seem 
as  if  Manasseh  had  destroyed  all  that  Isaiah  and  Hezekiah  had 


RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL.  67 

with  so  much  labor  built  up ;  the  people  had  gone  back  to  idols. 
But  this  was  not  the  case.  The  party  that  favored  the  sole 
worship  of  Yahwe  was  not  dead,  and  subsequent  events  show 
that  it  was  gathering  force.  Hezekiah  had  begun  to  concentrate 
the  national  worship  at  Jerusalem,  and  pious  men  now  saw  that 
this  was  a  necessity  for  the  people.  Hitherto  the  prophets 
generally  had  not  disapproved  of  local  shrines  away  from  Jeru- 
salem, provided  they  were  devoted  to  Yahwe.  But  now,  during 
and  after  Hezekiah's  reign,  they  began  to  say  that  the  people 
could  never  be  weaned  from  other  gods  so  long  as  they  were 
allowed  to  worship  wherever  they  pleased  in  the  land;  they  must 
be  required  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  and  offer  their  sacrifices  in 
the  temple  of  Yahwe  there,  and  then  they  would  get  into  the 
habit  of  worshipping  Yahwe  alone. 

4.  The  Book  of  Deuteronomy.  —  After  a  while  some  pro- 
phetic man,  whose  name  we  do  not  know,  compiled  a  law  book, 
in  which  he  laid  it  down  as  a  rule  that  offerings  must  be  made 
only  in  Jerusalem.  As  this  rule  was  believed  to  be  necessary  to 
the  true  religious  life  of  the  nation,  to  be  part  of  the  law  of 
Yahwe,  it  was  naturally  represented  as  having  been  given  by 
the  great  prophet  and  lawgiver,  Moses ;  in  those  days  it  was  the 
custom  to  refer  wisdom  and  authority  to  ancient  sages.  The 
book  thus  prepared  was  the  one  that  we  call  Deuteronomy.  Its 
legal  part  is  contained  in  chapters  xii.-xxvi. ;  this  includes 
some  older  laws,  together  with  customs  which  had  been  intro- 
duced during  and  after  Hezekiah's  time.  The  law  of  the  one 
sanctuary  is  given  in  chapter  xii.  ;  see  especially  verses  5  and 
13.  To  this  legal  portion  is  prefixed  a  general  exhortation 
(put  into  the  mouth  of  Moses)  to  be  faithful  to  Yahwe  (chapters 
i.-xii.);  and  at  the  end  follow  blessings  and  curses  (xxvii.- 
xxx.),  then  a  song  (xxxii.),  and  a  blessing  of  the  tribes  (xxxiii.) 
(poems  probably  composed  at  an  earlier  time),  and  some  histori- 
cal statements  (xxxi.  and  xxxiv.).  This  earliest  of  the  great 
law  books  of  Israel  is  very  interesting  to  us.  It  is  the  monu- 
ment of  a  great  religious  conflict,  and  the  sign  of  a  great  relig- 
ious progress.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  movement  that 
produced  the  Pentateuchal  legislation.  And  it  is  full  of  deep 


68  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

and  pure  religious   feeling.     It  is   abundantly  quoted   in  the 
New  Testament,  for  example  in  Matt.  iv.  4,  7,  10. 

5.  Reform  under  Josiah.  —  We  return  now  to  the  history 
of  Judah.  After  Amon  came  the  young  Josiah,  a  boy  eight 
years  old,  who  for  eighteen  years  let  things  go  on  as  his  father 
and  grandfather  had  conducted  them.  But  in  the  eighteenth 
year  of  his  reign  he  was  suddenly  waked  up  by  a  curious  event, 
namely,  the  finding  of  a  law  book  in  the  temple.  The  king 
was  engaged  in  repairing  the  temple  (2  Kings  xxii.),  and,  while 
the  work  was  in  progress,  the  priest  Hilkiah  reported  that  he 
had  found  a  book  of  the  law.  The  young  king  directed  it  to  be 
read  to  him.  He  listened  with  astonishment  and  terror  to  the 
punishment  denounced  against  idolatry.  He  saw  that  he  and 
his  people  were  acting  contrary  to  the  law  as  given  in  this  book. 
How  should  they  escape  ?  He  consulted  the  prophets  and 
priests,  and  immediately  set  to  work  to  extirpate  idolatry.  He 
undid  all  that  his  grandfather  Manasseh  had  -done ;  he  made  a 
clean  sweep  of  idol-temples  and  images  from  Solomon's  down. 
Read  the  graphic  account  in  2  Kings  xxiii.  It  was  very  nearly 
the  destruction  of  idolatry  in  Judah ;  after  this  we  hear  little  of 
it.  And  the  book  that  was  read  to  Josiah  was  substantially  the 
book  of  Deuteronomy. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  history:  the  "Bible  for  Learners;"  the  histories 
of  Kuenen,   Wellhausen,  and  others   above  mentioned;  J.  H. 
Allen,  "  Hebrew  Men  and  Times,"  Boston,  1879. 

2.  On    Deuteronomy:    Introduction    of    Bleek- Wellhausen ; 
W.  R.  Smith's  "  Old  Testament  in  the  Jewish  Church." 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  had  Hezekiah  tried  to  do  ?    What  was   the  effect  of    this  ? 
Were  the  people  attached  to  the  old  shrines  ?    Why  was  it  easier  at  this 
time  to  turn  the  worship  to  Jerusalem  ?    Was  Hezekiah's  reform  spiritual  ? 
What  did  it  do  ?    Was  it  thorough  even  in  this  respect  ? 

2.  Was  the  whole  nation  concerned  in  this  movement  of   Hezekiah  ? 
What  happened  when  he  died  V    What  did  Manasseh  do  ?    Who  opposed 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  69 

him  V    How  did  he  treat  them  ?    Was  he  also  a  worshipper  of  Yahwe  V 
What  does  the  book  of  Chronicles  say  of  him  ?    Is  this  probable  ? 

3.  Had  Manasseh  destroyed  the  party  that  favored  the  sole  worship  of 
Yahwe?    What  had  Hezekiah  begun  to  do?    What  did  pious  men  now 
see  ?    Had  the  prophets  hitherto  condemned  the  local  shrines   devoted  to 
Yahwe?    What  change  took  place  in  their  views  during  and  after  Hezekiah's 
time  ? 

4.  What  book  was  written   about   this    time  ?    What  rule  did  it  lay 
down?     To  what  ancient  prophet  was  it  ascribed?     Can  you  turn  to  this 
book  and  point  out  its  divisions  ?     Why  is  it  interesting  to  us  ?     Where  is  it 
quoted  in  the  New  Testament?    What  is   the  date  of    its  composition? 
[Probably  not  far  from  B.C.  622.] 

5.  What  king  succeeded  Manasseh  and  Amon  ?    How  old  was  he  when 
he  came  to  the  throne  ?     How  long  did  things   go   on  in  the  old  way  ? 
What  roused  him  ?    How  did  this  happen  ?    What  did  Josiah  do  ?     What 
was  the  book  that  was  found  in  the  temple  ? 


LESSON  XIV. 

JEREMIAH  AND  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 

1.   The  Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Chaldeans.  —  We 

must  now  briefly  relate  the  events  that  led  to  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  and  the  temporary  breaking  up  of  the  nation  of 
Judah ;  they  are  described  in  the  books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles, 
and  of  the  last  years  there  is  a  vivid  picture  in  the  book  of 
Jeremiah.  After  the  death  of  Hezekiah  the  land  had 

rest  for  many  years.  It  was  subject  to  Assyria,  but  the  Assyri- 
ans, occupied  elsewhere,  made  no  new  invasion.  The  surround- 
ing petty  nations,  the  Moabites,  Ammonites,  and  Philistines, 
gave,  as  it  seems,  no  serious  trouble,  though  there  were,  per- 
haps, incursions  by  the  Arabs.  Manasseh,  Amon,  and  Josiah 
devoted  themselves  wholly  to  internal  affairs.  But  great 
changes  in  the  history  of  the  world  were  impending,  in  which 
the  little  kingdom  of  Judah  was  to  be  involved.  About  B.C. 
606  (the  date  is  uncertain)  the  Assyrian  empire  fell  before  the 
combined  attack  of  the  Medes  and  Babylonians,  and  in  the 
partition  of  territory  that  followed,  Judah,  with  the  rest  of 


70  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

Canaan,  was  assigned  to  Babylon.  The  end  came  soon.  About 
B.C.  609  the  king  of  Egypt  had  made  an  expedition  against  the 
Assyrians;  Josiah,  king  of  Judah,  opposed  his  advance,  and 
was  defeated  and  slain  at  Megiddo  (2  Kings  xxiii.  29,  30).  The 
king  of  Egypt  deposed  Josiah's  son,  Jehoahaz,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded his  father,  and  set  up  in  his  place  another  son  of  Josiah, 
Jehoiakim,  as  his  vassal-king.  But  the  power  of  the  Egyptian 
empire  was  speedily  broken.  In  B.C.  605  King  Necho  was 
defeated  at  Karkemish  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  young  king  of 
Babylon,  and  after  this  the  king  of  Egypt  was  shut  up  in  his 
own  land  (2  Kings  xxiv.  7).  Jehoiakim  submitted  to  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and,  though  he  rebelled,  remained  the  vassal  of  Baby- 
lon. After  reigning  eleven  years  he  died  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  Jehoiachin,  who  at  the  end  of  three  months  was 
carried,  together  with  many  of  his  subjects,  to  Babylon  by  the 
Chaldeans  (that  is,  the  Babylonians);  here  he  remained  a  pris^ 
oner  thirty-seven  years,  and  was  then  released  by  Nebuchadnez- 
zar's son  and  successor,  Avilrnarduk  (2  Kings  xxv.  27-30).  In 
his  stead  the  Chaldeans  placed  on  the  throne  of  Jerusalem 
Zedekiah  (B.C.  598),  a  weak  prince,  who  angered  Nebuchadnez- 
zar by  various  attempts  at  rebellion.  Finally,  about  B.C.  587, 
the  latter  came  up  to  Jerusalem,  besieged  and  captured  it, 
destroyed  the  temple,  and  carried  off  the  greater  part  of  the 
people  to  Babylon.  This  was  the  end  of  the  Davidic  kingdom 
of  Judah,  which  had  existed  (from  Rehoboam's  accession) 
nearly  four  hundred  years.  Presently  we  shall  see  a  new  com- 
munity established  in  Judah,  and  then  another  kingdom  (the 
Hasmonean),  and  then  will  come  Christianity.  All  through 
these  years  God  is  preparing  the  Jews  for  the  coming  of  the 
Christ.  Though  the  nation  was  broken  up  and  held  in  subjec- 
tion by  foreigners,  it  continued  to  learn  new  truths  of  religion. 
For  a  description  of  the  last  days  of  the  Judah  kingdom,  see 
Jer.  xxxvii.-xliii. 

2.  Nahum,  Zephaniah,  and  Habakkuk.  —  The  prophets 
who  flourished  in  the  seventh  century  B.C.  are  Nahum,  Zepha- 
niah, Habakkuk,  arid  Jeremiah.  To  the  three  first  of  these  we 
need  give  only  a  word.  Nahum  (perhaps  about  B.C.  630)  directs 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  71 

his  prophecy  against  the  Assyrian  empire  (Nineveh),  of  which 
he  describes  the  oppression  and  predicts  the  downfall;  the  Assyr- 
ians had  been  cruel  to  Judah,  and  Yah  we  would  destroy  them. 
The  prophecy  was  probably  uttered  about  the  time  when  the 
Assyrian  power  began  to  wane  and  enemies  gathered  around 
Nineveh.  Zephaniah's  prophecy  falls  not  far  from 

Nahurn's,  but  its  exact  date  is  not  determined.  His  view  em- 
braces almost  all  the  surrounding  nations,  —  Assyria,  Ethiopia, 
the  Philistines,  Moab,  and  Amrnon.  He  speaks  of  an  approach- 
ing "day  of  Yahwe  "  (i.  14),  when  idolatry  should  be  rooted 
out,  Judah's  enemies  destroyed,  and  Judah  itself  dwell  in  safety; 
and  he  rebukes  those  who  thought  that  Yahwe  sat  with  folded 
hands,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  affairs  of  the  nation 
(i.  12).  Habakkuk,  writing  somewhere  about  B.C.  605, 

announces  the  speedy  coming  of  the  Chaldeans,  their  might  and 
victory,  and  their  following  overthrow;  his  refrain  and  the 
ground  of  his  hope  is:  "Yahwe  is  in  his  holy  temple;  let  all 
the  earth  keep  silence  before  him  "  (ii.  20).  There  is  added  a 
beautiful  hymn  (iii.)  in  which  God's  majesty  is  celebrated. 

3.  Jeremiah's  Life.  —  More  space  must  be  given  to  Jere- 
miah, one  of  the  most  important  of  the  prophets  of  Israel,  a 
man  of  intense  patriotism,  deep  spirituality,  and  lofty  faith  in 
the  mercy  and  power  of  Israel's  God.  Thanks  to  the  biograph- 
ical details  in  his  book,  we  know  more  of  his  personal  character, 
and  fortunes  than  of  those  of  any  other  prophet.  In  some 
points  he  resembles  the  Apostle  Paul :  like  him  he  is  intense  in 
feeling,  and  eager  and  unwearied  in  action,  and  like  him  he  is 
condemned  to  be  misunderstood  and  hated  by  his  countrymen. 
On  the  other  hand,  unlike  Paul,  he  was  retiring  by  nature, 
shrinking  from  a  public  career,  yet  driven  by  an  inward  voice 
to  a  life  of  ceaseless  conflict.  According  to  the  superscription 
of  his  book  he  began  to  prophesy  in  the  thirteenth  year  of 
Josiah's  reign,  about  B.C.  626.  He  denounced  the  wickedness, 
the  idolatry,  and  the  religious  formality  of  the  people;  Yahwe, 
said  he  (vii.  22,  23),  has  commanded  not  offerings  of  animals, 
but  obedience  to  his  will.  On  one  occasion  (vii.  2)  he  stood  in 
the  gate  of  the  temple,  and  told  the  throng  of  worshippers  that 


72  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

this  house  was  nothing  unless  they  amended  their  ways.  Later, 
in  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim  (B.C.  605),  the  prophet's  secre- 
tary, Baruch,  wrote  his  words  down,  and  they  were  read  before 
the  king,  who  showed  his  appreciation  of  them  by  cutting  the 
book  to  pieces  with  his  knife  and  throwing  it  into  the  fire 
(xxxvi.).  In  fact,  the  political  and  religious  ideas  of  Jeremiah 
were  very  different  from  those  of  the  king  and  princes.  They 
were  for  resisting  the  Babylonians  and  asserting  their  indepen- 
dence ;  he  saw  that  this  was  fatal  folly,  —  they  could  not  stand 
against  the  mighty  power  of  Babylon.  They  accused  him  of 
treason  (this  was  when  Zedekiah  was  king),  and  threw  him  into 
a  dungeon,  whence  he  was  released  only  when  Jerusalem  was 
taken  (xxxvii.,  xxxviii.).  He  was  not  carried  to  Babylon 
(xxxix.),  but  after  a  while  was  forced  by  a  party  of  Jews  to  go 
with  them  to  Egypt  (xlii.,  xliii.),  where  he  probably  died  (the 
date  of  his  death  is  unknown). 

4.  His   Faith  and  Teaching.  —  Jeremiah  trusted  wholly  to 
the  truthfulness  and  goodness  of   the  God  of   Israel,  and  his 
hopes  were  fulfilled,  though  not  in  the  way  that  he  expected. 
He  supposed   that   the   people  would   go  into  captivity  (xxv. 
8-11),  and  that  afterwards  their  deliverance  would  be  effected 
through  a  king,  a  descendant  of  David,  who   should  be   called 
"  Yah  we  our  righteousness"  (xxiii.  5,  6),  that  is,  he  should  be 
a  man  who  should  show  forth  in  his  life  and  government  the 
righteousness  of  which  Yahwe  would  approve  (the  same  name 
is  given  to  Judah,  xxxiii.  16).     No  such  king  came;  but  the 
captivity  itself  taught  Israel  something  about  true  righteous- 
ness, and  long  afterwards  God  sent  Jesus  with  a  more  perfect 
teaching.     The  prophet  said  also  that  the  time  was  coming  when 
God's  law  should  be  written  on  the  people's  heart;  when  they 
should  obey  him  freely  and  gladly  (xxxi.  31-34);  and  this  is  the 
spirit  of  the  New  Testament. 

5.  His   Book. — Jeremiah's   prophecies  were  gathered  and 
written  at  various  times,  and  they  are  not  arranged  in  chrono- 
logical order  in  the  Hebrew  and  our  English  version  (the  order 
is  better   in   the  Greek  version).     The  date  of  each  prophecy 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  73 

must  be  made  out  by  the  superscriptions  and  the  contents.  A 
few  passages  now  included  in  the  book  were  not  written  by 
Jeremiah:  chapters  1.,  li.,  belong  to  the  time  of  the  Exile  (like 
Is.  xiii.,  xiv);  the  prophecy  against  Moab  (xlviii.)  appears  to 
be  an  imitation  of  Is.  xv.,  xvi.,  but,  if  this  is  so,  it  may  never- 
theless be  Jeremiah's. 


LITERATURE. 

1.  On  Nahum:  the  general  works  on  prophecy  above  men- 
tioned; the  "  Speaker's  Commentary,"  and  the  "  K urzgef asstes 
Exegetisches   Handbuch;"    articles   in    Schenkel's   Bibel-Lexi- 
con  and  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

2.  On  Zephaniah:  the  same  as  for  Nahum,  and  articles  in 
Herzog's  Encyclopadie  and  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

3.  On  Habakkuk :  the  same. 

4.  On  Jeremiah:  the  same  as  above,  and  Lange's  Commen- 
tary. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Where  is  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  described  ?    What  was  the 
state  of  Judah  under  Kings  Manasseh,  Amon,  and  Josiah?    What  nations 
overthrew  the  Assyrian  empire  V     To  whose  share  did  Judah  fall  ?    How 
was  Josiah  killed  ?    Whom  did  the  Egyptian  king  place  on  the  throne  of 
Jerusalem  ?    By  whom  was  the  power  of  Egypt  broken  ?    Who  succeeded 
Jehoiakim  as  king  V    What  became  of  him  ?     What  was  the  character  of 
Zedekiah  ?    By  whom  was  Jerusalem  captured  ?     When  ?     How  long  had 
the  Davidic  kingdom  of  Judah  lasted  ?    For  what  was  God  preparing  the 
Jews  ? 

2.  What  four  prophets  nourished  in  the  seventh  century  ?    Can  you  turn 
to  their  writings    in    the    Bible?     Of   what   does   Nahum   speak?     What 
nations   does   Zephaniah' s  view  embrace  ?    Of  what   day  does  he   speak  ? 
Whom  does  he  rebuke  ?    What  event  does  Habakkuk  announce  ?    What, 
then,  is  his  probable  date  ?     What  sentence  expresses  his  hope  ? 

3.  What  was  Jeremiah's  character?  Why  do  we  know  more  of  him 
than  of  the  other  prophets  ?  Wherein  does  he  resemble  the  Apostle  Paul  ? 
In  what  is  he  unlike  Paul  ?  When  did  he  begin  to  prophesy  ?  What  did 
he  denounce  ?  What  did  he  tell  the  worshippers  at  the  gate  of  the  temple  ? 
Who  wrote  his  words  down  ?  To  whom  were  they  read  ?  What  did  the 
king  do  ?  Were  the  prophecies  written  down  again  ?  [Yes,  with  additions ; 
see  Jer.  xxxvi.  32.]  How  did  Jeremiah's  political  and  religious  ideas  diffet 


74  THE   HISTORY   OP   THE 

from  those  of  the  king  and  princes  ?    Of  what  did  they  accuse  him  ?     What 
became  of  him  ? 

4.  To  what  did  Jeremiah  trust  ?    Were  his  hopes  fulfilled  ?     What  did 
he  expect  V    Did  such  a  king  arise  V     What  did  the  captivity  teach  Israel  ? 
Where  did  the  prophet  say  God's  law  should  be  written  ?    Is  this  the  spirit 
of  the  New  Testament  ? 

5.  When  were  Jeremiah's  prophecies  written  down?    Are  they  arranged 
in  chronological  order  in  the  English  version?     In  what  version  is  the  order 
better  ?     Where  and  when  was  the  Greek  version  made  ?     [In  Alexandria 
in  Egypt,  about  B.C.  200.]     How  do  we  make  out  the  dates  of  the  prophe- 
cies ?    What  is  to  be  said  of  the  authorship  of  chapters  1.,  li.  ?    Why  do  we 
suppose  that  they  were  not  written  by  Jeremiah  ?     [Because  they  say  that 
the  people  are  already  in  captivity  in  Babylon,  and  because  they  are  hostile 
to  Babylon,  while  Jeremiah   is  always  friendly  to  that  kingdom,  which  he 
regards  as  Yahwe's  instrument  for  chastising  Israel.] 


LESSON   XV. 

THE  EXILE. 

1.    The    Carrying    Away   of    the    Jews    to    Babylon. — 

When  we  speak  of  "  the  Exile,"  we  commonly  mean  the  cap- 
tivity of  the  Jews  in  Babylon  from  the  capture  and  destruction 
of  the  city  of  Jerusalem  (B.C.  587)  to  the  return  of  a  portion  of 
the  people  to  Palestine  (B.C.  537  or  536).  A  large  part  of  the 
northern  kingdom,  Israel,  had  been  carried  away  to  Assyria 
some  time  before  this  (B.C.  720),  but  some  of  them  had  remained, 
and  with  the  Assyrian  settlers  formed  the  mixed  people  called 
Samaritans  (see  Lesson  XL) ;  this  captivity  is  called  the  Exile 
of  the  Ten  Tribes,  or  the  Assyrian  Exile.  The  Babylonian 
Exile,  of  which  we  have  now  to  speak,  was  more  important  than 
the  Assyrian  captivity  for  the  political  and  religious  fortunes  of 
the  nation,  and  therefore  is  usually  called  "the  Exile."  King 
Nebuchadnezzar  (or,  as  the  name  is  more  properly  written, 
Nebuchadrezzar)  carried  off  first  a  large  body  of  people  on  the 
accession  of  Jehoiachin  (B.C.  598),  and  then  another  large  body 
when  he  took  the  city,  eleven  years  later  (2  Kings  xxiv.  14-16, 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  75 

xxv.  11).  There  remained  in  Judah  only  the  poorer  class  of 
husbandmen,  or  tillers  of  the  soil,  and  vinedressers  (xxv.  12). 
Over  these  the  Babylonian  general  appointed  a  Judean  as 
governor;  but  some  fanatics,  who  still  fancied  they  might  be 
independent  of  Babylon,  assassinated  him,  and  the  people, 
fearing  the  vengeance  of  the  Babylonians,  left  their  country 
and  went  down  to  Egypt  (2  Kings  xxv.  22-26,  Jer.  xxxix.- 
xliii.).  Others  of  the  people  had  probably  fled  to  the  surround- 
ing territory  of  Moab  and  Ammon  and  Philistia;  and  so  Judea 
was  left  desolate,  almost  uninhabited,  till  the  return  ordered  by 
Cyrus  (see  next  Lesson).  The  nation  is  no  longer  in  Canaan, 
but  in  Babylon,  and  thither  we  must  follow  it. 

2.  The  Results  of  the  Exile. —  The  prophet  Jeremiah  had 
declared  (Jer.  xxv.  11)  that  Judah  and  all  the  nations  round 
about  should  be  carried  off,  and  should  serve  the  king  of  Baby- 
lon seventy  years,  which  is  to  be  taken  as  a  round  number;  what 
became  of  the  other  nations  we  do  not  know,  but  the  captivity 
of  Judah  lasted  fifty  years  if  we  reckon  from  the  destruction  of 
the  city  (B.C.  587-537),  sixty  years  from  the  accession  and  carry- 
ing off  of  Jehoiachin  (598-537,  see  Ezek.  i.  2),  and  about  seventy 
years  from  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim  (605-537,  see  Jer.  xxv. 
1,  11).  The  time  is  of  little  consequence;  we  are  more  con- 
cerned with  wThat  the  captive  Jews  learned  in  Babylon.  Their 
political  independence  was  destroyed,  and  they  did  not  regain 
it  till  shortly  before  the  birth  of  Christ.  As  to  their  religious 
ideas,  these  four  things  may  be  said:  1.  The  Exile  brought 
them  on  a  great  way  toward  religious  manhood.  It  did  this  in 
part  by  sifting  them,  putting  the  best  people  together,  and 
casting  off  the  rest.  When  the  Israelites  first  settled  in  Canaan, 
they  all  worshipped  a  number  of  gods,  and  were  like  children 
in  their  religious  ideas  and  practices;  they  were  not  at  all 
different- from  their  neighbors.  Gradually  the  more  enlightened 
among  them  came  to  see  that  it  was  better  for  them  to  worship 
only  their  own  god,  Yahwe,  and  they  thought  of  him  as  not 
only  powerful  but  also  holy  and  just.  Then  men  like  Amos  said 
that  Yahwe,  though  he  was  the  God  of  Israel,  was  also  the  ruler 
of  all  the  nations.  Finally,  in  the  Exile,  the  deepest  thinkers 


76  THE    HISTORY   OP   THE 

came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  idols  of  the  other  nations  were 
nothing,  and  that  there  was  only  one  God  in  the  world,  and  he 
was  Israel's  holy  God.  When  they  had  once  got  hold  of  this 
idea,  they  never  lost  it;  after  this,  idolatry  could  not  tempt 
them,  for  they  despised  it.  God  was  bringing  them  on  by  a 
sure  path  to  know  him.  Perhaps  the  more  enlightened  and 
spiritual  of  the  Jews  would  have  reached  this  faith  in  the  one 
God  (monotheism)  even  if  they  had  stayed  in  their  own  land ; 
but  the  chastisement  of  exile  made  them  more  thoughtful,  and 
at  the  same  time,  by  breaking  up  the  government,  brought  the 
better  people  together  into  a  society  or  church,  and  in  this  way 
hastened  the  result.  2.  The  Exile  not  only  destroyed  idolatry 
among  the  Judean  captives,  but  also  gave  them  larger  and  more 
spiritual  views  of  Yahwe's  relation  to  his  people.  They  had 
thought  that  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  was  his  dwelling-place. 
Now  the  temple  was  destroyed,  there  were  no  sacrifices,  they 
had  to  worship  without  priests  and  offerings.  The  earthly 
kingdom  was  destroyed,  and  Yahwe  alone  was  king.  Israel 
was  the  servant  of  foreign  nations,  but  Israel  had  something 
better  than  military  power,  —  it  had  the  presence  of  the  true 
God,  and  his  instruction ;  and  it  should  become  a  light  to  the 
other  nations  to  guide  them  to  God.  Israel  was  suffering,  but 
by  its  suffering  should  atone  for  sin  and  reconcile  men  to  God. 
So  taught  some  of  the  prophets  (Is.  xlix.  6,  liii.  11,  12).  This 
was  a  great  progress  in  spirituality.  3.  Another  result  was  that 
the  Jews  now  began  to  arrange  their  religious  law.  There  had 
been  several  collections  of  political  and  religious  rules  of  life. 
One  of  these,  the  oldest  of  which  we  know,  compiled,  perhaps, 
about  B.C.  800,  is  contained  in  Ex.  xxi.-xxiii.  Another  one  is 
the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  of  which  we  spoke  in  Lesson  XIII. 
There  was  an  increasing  interest  in  this  subject,  and  the  interest 
was  probably  further  heightened  by  acquaintance  with  the 
religious  organization  of  the  Babylonians,  which  was  more 
perfect  than  that  of  the  Israelites.  The  prophet  Ezekiel  drew 
up  a  new  code.  Other  men  were,  no  doubt,  thinking  how  to 
better  the  temple-service  when  it  should  be  restored.  Then 
they  all  began  to  feel  that  a  clear  moral  and  religious  law  was 
necessary  in  order  that  the  people  might  lead  a  worthy  life. 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  77 

We  shall  see  how  this  thought  afterwards  bore  fruit,  and  pre- 
pared the  world  for  the  coming  of  the  Christ.  4.  It  seems  also 
that  the  Jews  learned  at  this  time  from  the  Babylonians  a 
number  of  stories  about  the  creation  and  early  times  of  the 
world;  and,  after  purging  them  of  heathen  notions,  included 
them  in  their  sacred  books.  They  are  now  found  in  Gen.  i.-xi. 
As  we  read  nothing  of  these  in  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament 
written  before  the  Exile,  it  seems  probable  that  the  Jews  now, 
for  the  first  time,  came  to  a  distinct  knowledge  of  them. 

3.  Historical  Books  written  at  this  Time.  —  During  the 
Exile,  several  books  of  the  Old  Testament  were  written.     His- 
tory proper  is  among  the  latest  products  of  a  national  literature, 
and  among  the  Jews  it  seems  not  to  have  flourished  till  about 
this  time.     There  had  before  been  annals  and  short  narratives  of 
particular  periods;  now,  when  the  nation  was  broken  up,  in  the 
quiet  of  exile,  or  in  the  desolation  of  Canaan,  men  began  to 
think  over  the  past,  and  wish  to  give  an  historical  explanation  of 
it.     It  was  probably  now  that  the  books  of  Judges,  Ruth,  Sam- 
uel, and  Kings  were  written.     On  these,  see  Lessons  V.,  VI.. 
VII.     The  book  of  Kings  takes  the  same  general  view  of  relig- 
.ious  law  as  Deuteronomy;   it  blames  all  those  who  sacrificed 
elsewhere  than  at  Jerusalem.     Judges  and  Samuel  do  not  insist 
on  this  rule ;  they  are  more  largely  made  up  of  popular  stories, 
and  may  have  been  composed  earlier,  perhaps  about  B.C.  650. 
The  book  of  Ruth  is  a  charming  story  of  an  ancestress  of  David. 
Perhaps  other  historical  books  were  written  just  before  and 
during  the  Exile ;  but  these  are  all  that  have  come  down  to  us. 

4.  Obadiah  and  Lamentations.  —  Some  prophetical  books 
belong  to  this  period.     From  Obadiah  (otherwise  unknown  to 
us)  we  have  a  word  against  the  Edomites  (perhaps  directly  after 
the  destruction   of  Jerusalem),   who,  as  it  appears  from  the 
prophecy  (verses  10-14),  had  helped  to  plunder  the  city  and  cut 
off  the  fugitives.  About  this  time  was  composed  the 
pathetic  little  poem  (or  rather,  collection  of  five  poems)  called 
"  Lamentations,"  a  lament  over  the  fallen  city.     Our  English 
version  ascribes  it  to  Jeremiah,  but  the  Hebrew  does  not. 

Two  other  prophets  we  must  reserve  for  another  Lesson. 


78  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE 

LITERATURE. 

1.  The  commentaries  on  Ruth  are  the  same  as  those  on 
Judges,  Obadiah  goes  along  with  the  rest  of  the  Minor 
Prophets,  and  Lamentations  with  Jeremiah. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  do  we  commonly  mean  when  we  speak  of  "  the  Exile  "  ?    What 
is  the  Assyrian  Exile?     By  what  other  name  is  it  called  ?     Who  were  the 
Samaritans?    In  what  respect  is  the  Babylonian  Exile  more  important? 
On  what  two  occasions  did  Nebuchadnezzar  carry  off  the  Jews  to  Babylon  ? 
What  people  were  left  in  Judea?     What  became  of  them  ?     What  was  the 
state  of  the  land?     Where  was  the  nation  of  Judah  now  ? 

2.  How  long  did  Jeremiah  declare  the  Jews  should  remain  captives  in 
Babylon  ?    Can  we  make  out  this  number  exactly  ?    Is  it  of  much  conse- 
quence ?     What  is  of  more  consequence  ?     What  had  become  of  the  nation's 
political   independence  ?    What  was  the  first  effect  of  the  Exile  on  the 
religious  condition  of  Israel  ?  •  How  did  it  sift  the  people  ?    What  was  the 
worship  of  the  Israelites  when  they  first  settled  in  Canaan  ?     What  did  the 
more  enlightened  (the   prophets,   for  example)    gradually    come  to   see  ? 
Afterwards,  what  did  men  like  Amos  say  ?    Finally,  to  what  conclusion  did 
the  deepest  thinkers  come  ?    Would  they  have  reached  this  conclusion 
without  the  Exile?    How  did  the  Exile   help?    What  is   monotheism? 
What  was  the  second  result  of  the  Exile  ?    What  did  Israel  have  that  was 
better  than  military  power  ?     How  could  Israel,  though  in  servitude  to  other 
nations,  be  a  light  to  them  ?    Did  one  of  the  prophets  think  that  Israel's 
suffering  would  aid  others?     Can  you  turn  to  the  passage?    What  was  the 
third  result  of  the  Exile  ?     What  collections  of  laws  were  there  before  this 
period  ?    Was  there  now  an  increase  of  interest  on  this  subject  ?     What 
prophet  drew  up  a  new  code  ?     [See  Ezek.  xl.-xlviii.,  especially  xliii.-xlvi.j 
What  did  men  begin  to  feel  ?     Fourthly,  what  stories  did  the  Jews  probably 
learn  at  this  time  ?    From  whom  ?     Where  are  they  found  in  the  Bible  ? 

3.  Is  history  among  the  latest  products  of  a  national  literature  ?    Can 
you  tell  why?    What  historical  bocks  were  probably  written  about  this 
time?    Had  there  been  earlier  historical  writings?    Of  what  character? 
Wherein   does  the  book  of   Kings   agree  with   Deuteronomy?     How  are 
Judges  and  Samuel  largely  made  up  ?    Can  you  turn  to  these  books,  and 
point  out  some  of    the   stories  ?     What  is  the  book  of  Ruth  ?    Can  you 
repeat  the  story  of  Ruth  ? 

4.  Against  whom  is  the  prophecy  of  Obadiah  directed  ?     What  had  they 
done?     What  is  the   subject  of  the  book  called  Lamentations?    Was  it 
written  by  Jeremiah  ?     [Hardly ;  it  says,  for  example  (ii.  9),  that  Judah's 
prophets  find  no  vision  from  Yahwe.] 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  79 

LESSON    XVI. 

THE  PROPHETS  OF   THE  EXILE. 

1.  Condition  of  the  Exiles.  —  The  best  part  of  the  people  of 
Israel  had  been  carried  off  to  Assyria  and  Babylonia.     Some  oi 
them  (especially  of  those  first  carried  away,  B.C.  720)  were  no 
doubt  absorbed  in  the  Assyrian  population;  the  later  captives 
(the  Judearis)  formed  a  colony  which  maintained  itself  separate 
from  the  surrounding  people.      There  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  they  suffered  in  body,  at  least  in  the  early  part  of  their  cap- 
tivity.    Doubtless  they  would  sometimes  think  of  native  land 
and  homes,  and  their  hearts  would  grow  sick  with  longing  (Ps. 
cxxxvii.  1) ;  but  in  general  the  most  of  them  were  comfortable. 
It  was  as  if  they  had  all  migrated  to  this  distant  land  (whence 
their  forefathers  had  long  ago  come).      Their  conquerors,  the 
Babylonians,  were  not  unkind  to  them.    They  seem  to  have  had 
a  district  of  their  own,  where  they  built  houses,  and  planted,  and 
reaped,  and  managed  their  own  affairs ;  and  the  prophet  Jeremiah 
exhorted  them  to  be  obedient  and  friendly  to  the  people  among 
whom  they  lived  (Jer.  xxix.  5-7).    Indeed,  he  believed  that  the 
hope  of  the  nation  lay  in  these  captives,  whom  God  was  purifying 
by  this  chastisement.     Not  that  they  all  became  righteous  and 
devoted  to  God.    There  was  discontent,  murmuring,  oppression, 
and  probably  idolatry  among  them.     Towards  the  end  of  the 
Exile,  possibly,  the  hand  of  their  masters  pressed  heavily  on 
them  (Isa.  lii.,  liii.).    But  by  all  their  experiences  the  better  part 
of  the  people  were  learning  of  God's  ways;  and  we  shall  find 
out  something  of  their  religious  ideas  from  the  two  great  proph- 
ets, Ezekiel  and  him  who  is  commonly  called  the  Second  Isaiah. 

2.  Ezekiel.  —  Our  only  source  of  information  about  Ezekiel 
is  his  book;  please  turn  as  often  as  possible  to  the  references, 
and  see  for  yourselves  what  he  says.     1.  Ezekiel  seems  to  have 
been  carried  off  to  Mesopotamia  at  the  same  time  with  King 
Jehoiachin  (B.C.  598)  (Ezek.  i.   1,  2  Kings  xxiv.   15),  and  to 
have  lived  there  the  rest  of  his  life  in  a  place  called  Tel-Abib, 
by  the  river,  or  canal   Kebar  (Ezek.   iii.  15).      He  began   to 
prophesy  B.C.  593.      He  was  a  priest  (i.  3),  and  though  there 


80  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

was  no  temple  of  Yah  we  in  Babylon,  and  he  could  not  offer 
sacrifices,  he  was  very  much  interested  in  the  ritual,  as  we  shall 
see;  in  this  he  was  unlike  Jeremiah,  who,  though  a  priest,  cared 
little  for  sacrifices.  He  was  married  (xxiv.  18),  and  seems  to 
have  lived  comfortably  in  his  own  house  (Jeremiah  was  un- 
married). He  was  friendly  to  the  Babylonians,  and  probably 
mixed  with  them  and  studied  their  religious  customs.  He 
was  a  bold  and  resolute  man ;  his  style  of  writing  is  not  highly 
imaginative,  but  is  striking  by  his  free  use  of  bold  imagery. 

2.  His  book  may  be  divided  as  follows:  first  come  reproofs  and 
threatenings  directed  against  Israel,  all  dated  before  the  de- 
struction   of    Jerusalem    (i.-xxiv.) ;  then    prophecies    against 
foreign  nations  (xxv.-xxxii.)  ;  a  word  when  the  city  was  taken 
(xxxiii.),  followed  by  prophecies  of   comfort  to  Israel,  and  a 
word  against  Seir  or  Edom  (xxxiv.-xxxix.);   finally,  a  great 
vision  of  the  restored   Israel,   an  account  of  the  temple  and 
worship  when  the  people  should  go  back  to  Canaan  (xl.-xlviii.). 

3.  Ezekiel  believed  that  the  captivity  was  ordered  by  God,  that 
he  might  purify  his  people,  and  show  forth  his  power  to  the 
other  nations  (xxxvii.  27,  28).     He  expected  that  Israel  would 
be  restored  as  a  nation  to  Canaan,  that  a  king  of  the  line  of 
David  would  reign  over  them  as  in  former  times  (xxxvii.  21- 
26) ,  that  the  temple  would  be  rebuilt  in  greater  splendor  than 
before,  and  that  the  people  would  dwell  in  their  land  forever. 
They  did  indeed  go  back  to  Canaan,  but  not  just  as  he  expected ; 
God's  plans  were  not  exactly  those  of  the  prophet.     4.  Expect- 
ing his  people's  return  to  their  land,  he  drew  up  a  constitution 
or  religious  code  for  that  happy  time.    He  wrote  this  in  the  form 
of  a  vision  ;  it  is  contained  in  chapters  xl.-xlviii.     It  was  never 
carried  into  effect,  for,  when  the  people  did  return  to  Canaan, 
they  were  too  poor  and  weak  to  adopt  his  magnificent  plans. 
From  the  rules  and  laws  that  he  gives  it  appears  that  he  was 
not  acquainted  with  the  code  of  Numbers  and  Leviticus;  this 
was  drawn  up  later.     But  he  goes  beyond  the  code  of  Deuter- 
onomy.    5.  EzekiePs  ethical  code  is  lofty  and  clear.     He  felt 
deeply  his  own  responsibility  as  a  religious  teacher  (iii.,  xxxiii.). 
He   insisted   strongly  on  every  man's   personal  responsibility 
(xviii.) ;  he  who  does  wrong,  said  he,  must  answer  for  it  him- 


RELIGION   OP   ISRAEL.  81 

self.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  holiness  and  justice  of  the 
God  of  Israel,  and  a  faithful  teacher  of  his  people.  He  was  a 
priest,  and  perhaps  thought  overmuch  of  the  temple  and  sacri- 
fices. But  these  were  really  necessary  at  that  time,  and  he  was 
truly  a  God-fearing  man,  filled  with  the  spirit  of  God. 

3,  The  Second  Isaiah.  —  Ezekiel  wrote  in  the  early  part  of 
the  captivity,  when  Israel's  part  was  to  submit  to  the  Babylo- 
nians. After  a  while  the  Medes  and  Persians  began  to  be 
powerful,  and  the  Israelites  hoped  to  be  delivered  by  them,  and 
restored  to  their  own  land.  Then  the  prophets  began  to  speak 
against  the  Babylonians.  Toward  the  end  of  the  Exile  there 
lived  a  great  prophet,  whose  name  we  do  not  know.  It  hap- 
pened somehow  that  his  writings  were  joined  on  to  those  of 
Isaiah,  whom  we  have  already  studied  (Lesson  XII.),  and  they 
are  now  printed  in  our  Bible  as  chapters  xl.-lxvi.  of  the  proph- 
ecy of  Isaiah.  For  want  of  a  better  name  we  call  him  the 
Second  Isaiah  (it  is  possible  that  his  name  was  really  Isaiah, 
and  that  this  was  the  reason  of  his  being  confounded  with  the 
earlier  prophet).  The  later  Jews  thought  he  was  the  same  as 
the  Isaiah  of  Hezekiah's  time;  but  we  know  from  his  writings 
that  he  lived  in  the  latter  part  of  the  Exile.  About  him  we 
may  say:  1.  His  style  is  marked  by  loftiness  of  imagination; 
more  than  any  other  prophet  he  maintains  his  thought  in  the 
region  of  the  poetic  and  the  ideal.  2.  He  looks  to  the  speedy 
restoration  of  his  people  to  their  own  land.  He  speaks  of  the 
great  Persian  king,  Cyrus,  as  having  already  conquered  many 
nations,  and  as  now  approaching  Babylon,  and  calls  him  "right- 
eous," and  Yahwe's  "  shepherd,"  and  "  anointed  one  "  (xli.  2, 
xliv.  28,  xlv.  1-4) ;  by  him  the  Chaldeans  (Babylonians)  shall 
be  destroyed,  and  Israel  sent  back  to  worship  Yahwe  in  Jerusa- 
lem (xlvii.  1,  lii.  1-12).  3.  He  has  little  to  say  about  temple 
and  sacrifices.  He  rather  describes  Israel  as  the  "  servant  of 
Yahwe,"  chastened  by  captivity  that  it  may  more  perfectly 
perform  the  divine  will  in  enlightening  and  saving  the  other 
nations.  See  xli.  8,  xlii.  1-4,  19,  xliv.  1-8,  xlix.  1-3.  In  one 
or  two  places  he  speaks  of  the  pious  of  Israel  as  atoning  by  their 
suffering  for  the  sins  of  their  own  people  and  of  other  nations ; 

6 


82  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

so  in  xlix.  6  and  the  section  from  Hi.  13  to  the  end  of  liii. 
This  last  passage,  particularly  chapter  liii.,  is  a  beautiful  de- 
scription of  an  innocent  person  suffering  for  others.  The 
prophet  is  speaking  of  the  pious  people  of  Israel,  the  spiritual 
kernel  of  the  nation;  but  it  is  true  of  all  God's  servants,  and 
particularly  of  Jesus,  to  whom  it  is  applied  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment (Acts  viii.  32,  33).  He  was  in  a  special  sense  the  "  ser- 
vant of  the  Lord"  (see  Luke  iv.  17-21).  4.  It  is  hard  to  give 
an  outline  of  the  prophet's  thought.  His  book  is  one  continued 
strain  (with  here  and  there  a  slight  exception)  of  splendid  por- 
traiture of  Israel's  coming  glory  through  its  knowledge  of 
Yahwe.  He  ridicules  idolatry  (xl.  18-20,  xliv.  9-20;  and  com- 
pare Ps.  cxv.  4-8),  but  he  has  nothing  to  say  against  any  foreign 
nation  but  Babylon. 

4.  Other  Exilian  Writings.  —  About  this  time  also  were 
probably  written  the  following  prophecies:  Is.  xiii.,  xiv.  1-27, 
xxxiv.,  xxxv.,  Jer.  1.,  li. ;  and  several  of  the  Psalms,  such  as 
xiv.  (and  liii.,  which  is  the  same  thing),  cxxx.,  cxxxvii.,  and 
perhaps  li. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  Exile  in  general:  the  histories  of  Israel,  and  par- 
ticularly Ewald's. 

2.  On  Ezekiel:    articles  in  encyclopaedias  and  commentaries, 
particularly  Smend's  (in  the  **  Kurzgefasstes  Exegetisches  Hand- 
buch  "). 

3.    On   Isaiah   II.:    Ewald's  "  Prophets,"    commentaries   of 

Knobel  and  Cheyne;  article  in  Encycl.  Brit.;  Matthew  Arnold 

has  printed  an  excellent  little  edition  of  the  prophecy,  with 
brief  notes,  London,  1872. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  became  of  the  first  Israelitish  captives  in  Assyria? — what  of 
the  later  Judean  captives  in  Babylon?  Did  they  suffer?  Were  their  con- 
querors unkind  to  them?  Did  they  make  homes  for  themselves  in  Babylon? 
What  advice  did  Jeremiah  give  them?  What  did  he  believe  in  reference  to 
them?  Were  they  all  good?  From  what  source  shall  we  learn  something  of 
their  religious  ideas? 


RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL.  83 

2.  What  is  our  source  of  information  about  Ezekiel?     When  was  he 
carried  away  to  Mesopotamia?     When  did  he  begin  to  prophesy?     What 
was  his  calling  in  life?    Wherein  was  he  like  and  wherein  unlike  Jeremiah? 
How  did  he  feel  toward  the  Babylonians?    What  was  his  character?  —  his 
style?    Can  you  turn  to  his  book  and  point  out  its  divisions  by  chapters? 
What  did  he  think  was  the  object  of  the  captivity?    What  did  he  expect  for 
his  people?    Did  this  come  to  pass  exactly  according  to  his  ideas?    What 
did  he  draw  up  for  the  people?     Did  they  adopt  it  when  they  returned  to 
Canaan?    Why  not?    Is  his  ritual  as  full  as  that  of  Leviticus  and  Numbers? 
Is  it  fuller  than  that  of  Deuteronomy?     What  is  the  character  of  his  ethical 
code?    How  did  he  feel  for  himself?    What  did  he  insist  on?    Was  he  a 
faithful  teacher  and  prophet? 

3.  When  did  the  prophets  Ezekiel  and  Jeremiah  speak  kindly  of  the 
Babylonians?    What  change  took  place  in  the  circumstances?    How  did  the 
prophets  then  speak  of  Babylon?    At  what  time  did  a  great  anonymous 
prophet  arise?      What  happened  to  his  writings?     Where  are   they  now 
printed?    What  do  we  call  him?    What  did  the  later  Jews  think  of  him? 
What  date  for  him  do  his  writings  indicate?    What  is  his  style?    What  did 
he  look  to  for  the  people?    How  does  lie  speak  of  Cyrus?    What  does  he  call 
him?    What  does  he  expect  him  to  do  for  Israel?    Does  he  say  much  of 
temples  and  sacrifices?    How  does  he  describe  Israel?     What  does  he  say 
of  atoning  by  suffering?    What  chapter  speaks  especially  of  this?    Is  this 
true  of  all  true  servants  of  God?    Of  whom  is  it  particularly  true?    Is  it 
easy  to  give  an  outline  of  the  thought  of  the  whole  prophesy?    How  does 
it  speak  of  idolatry?    May  we  suppose  that  Ezekiel  and  the  Second  Isaiah 
represent  different  sides  of  the  ideas  of  the  Jewish  captives?    Can  you  tell 
what  the  more  pious  and  spiritual  among  them  hoped  for?     [See  what  is 
said  in  the  Lesson  of  the  hopes  of  the  two  prophets.] 

4.  What  other  prophecies  were  probably  written  during  the  Exile?  What 
Psalms?  Why  do  we  suppose  that  these  were  composed  in  Exile?    [Because 
they  contain  references  and  allusions  to  the  Exile.] 


LESSON    XVII. 

HISTORY  AND  PROPHETIC   WRITINGS  UP  TO 
THE   TIME   OF   THE   MACCABEES. 

1.  Character  of  the  Period.  —  We  have  now  reached  the 
priestly  period  of  the  history  of  the  Israelitish  religion.  The 
great  prophets  had  done  their  work;  they  had  preached  right- 


84  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE 

eonsness  of  life  and  spirituality  of  worship.  Through  the  guid- 
ance of  God  Israel  had  thrown  off  idolatry,  and  now,  when  the 
Exile  was  over,  had  come  to  worship  one  God.  But  now  also, 
just  in  proportion  as  they  honored  their  God,  they  began  to  wish 
for  stricter  rules  of  outward  religious  service.  They  felt  that 
they  must  keep  themselves  separate  from  the  other  nations,  who 
worshipped  idols ;  and  to  do  this  they  must  build  around  them- 
selves a  hedge  of  laws  and  ceremonies.  This  sort  of  service 
would  of  course  be  directed  by  priests.  A  few  prophets  spoke 
after  the  Exile;  but  the  priests  gradually  got  the  control  of 
things.  It  is  this  religious  progress  that  we  are  most  concerned 
with,  from  the  return  from  exile  to  the  time  of  the  Maccabees; 
the  political  history  is  meagre  and  of  little  interest. 

2.  The  Return  from  Exile. — In  the  year  B.C.  539  Baby- 
lon was  taken  and  the   Babylonian   empire   destroyed  by  the 
Medes  and  Persians  under  Cyrus.     The  new  empire  thus  estab- 
lished by  the  Persians  comprised  the  whole  of  western  Asia,  and 
Judea  was  one  of  its  provinces.     The  Persian  king  was  not  un- 
willing to  have  a  people  friendly  to  him  dwelling  on  the  border 
of  his  empire  towards   Egypt;   so  he  gave  permission  to  the 
Jewish  captives  in  Babylon  to  go  back  to  their  own  land,  and 
some  of  them  accordingly  went  (B.C.  536).    Not  all  of  the  people 
returned;  perhaps  the  majority  stayed  in  Babylon,  not  choosing 
to  risk  the  chances  of  the  desolate  and  defenceless  land  of  Judah, 
and  in  Babylon  their  descendants  dwelt  for  more  than  a  thousand 
years.    About  40,000  (with  7,000  servants)  returned  to  Canaan, 
under  the  lead  of  Zerubbabel  (Ezra  i.,  ii.  64),  and  of  these  over 
4,000  were  priests.     Very  few  Levites  came.     Till  a  short  while 
before,  all  Levites  had  been  priests  (so  it  is  in  the  book  of  Deu- 
teronomy), but  about  EzekiePs  time  a  distinction  was  made 
between  them;  the  Levites  were  not  permitted  to  offer  sacri- 
fices, and  were  in  an  inferior  position.      Hence  not  many  of 
them  cared  to  go  back  to  Canaan,  where  they  could  not  expect 
positions  of  honor. 

3.  The  Building  of  the  Temple.  — We  can  easily  under- 
stand that  the  returned  exiles  were  kept  busy  building  their 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  85 

houses,  sowing  their  fields,  and  bringing  their  little  community 
into  shape.  However,  they  did  not  forget  the  claims  of  religion ; 
soon  after  their  return  they  set  up  the  altar,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  temple.  But  there  were  various  hinderances  :  the 
people,  hard  pressed  to  get  their  daily  bread  (Hag.  i.  6),  were 
probably  slack  in  work;  and  it  seems  that  their  jealous  neigh- 
bors made  trouble  for  them  at  the  Persian  court  (Ezra  iv.  24). 
For  about  sixteen  years  nothing  was  done.  Then  (B.C.  520)  the 
prophets  Haggai  and  Zechariah  came  forward  with  exhortations, 
the  people  set  to  work,  and  the  new  temple  (called  the  second 
temple)  was  finished  in  the  sixth  year  of  Darius  Hystaspis, 
B.C.  515.  It  was  not  as  grand  as  Ezekiel's,  nor  as  splendid  as 
Solomon's;  when  the  foundations  were  laid,  the  old  men,  re- 
membering the  glory  of  the  first  house  of  Yahwe,  wept  in  the 
midst  of  their  rejoicing,  seeing  how  much  less  was  the  outward 
glory  of  this  second  house  (Ezra  iii.  12,  13).  But  Haggai  told 
them  afterwards  that  the  glory  of  the  latter  house  should  be 
greater  than  that  of  the  former  (Hag.  ii.  9) ;  and  so  it  turned 
out.  This  handful  of  people  had  founded  the  new  Jewish 
Church. 

4.  Haggai  and  Zechariah.  —  Two  prophets  belong  to  this 
period.     Of  the  first,  Haggai,  a  few  words  have  been  preserved, 
spoken  in  the  second  year  of  Darius,  B  c.  520.    They  are  exhor- 
tations to  build  the  temple,  and  promises  of  blessing.    He  seems 
to  have  expected  political  power  for  his  people  (ii.  20-23) ;  but 
God  had  other  designs.  The  second  prophet,  Zecha- 
riah, had  a  number  of  visions  (B.C.  520),  encouraging  the  people 
to  build  the  temple,  and  again  (B.C.  518),  taught  them  that  they 
were  not  to  fast  in  commemoration  of  the  capture  of  the  city 
(chapter  vii.),  but  to  be  righteous  in  their  lives,  and  hope  for 
God's  blessing  (viii.).     Only  chapters  i.-viii.  of  this  book  are 
the  production  of  this  prophet,  the  contemporary  of   Haggai; 
chapters  ix.-xiv.  belong  to  a  different  time. 

5.  The  History  up  to  the  Maccabees.  —  After  the  building 
of  the  temple,  the  Jews  in  Canaan  seem  to  have  gone  on  quietly 
for  a  number  of  years,  under  Persian  governors;  we  have  no 


86  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

account  of  this  period.  But  their  religion  moved  steadily  for- 
ward. Those  Jews  who  had  stayed  in  Babylonia  had  been  study- 
ing the  law,  and  about  B.C.  457  one  of  them,  named  Ezra,  came 
over  to  Judea  and  introduced  or  gave  a  great  impulse  to  this  study 
among  the  people.  His  efforts  were  seconded  by  Nehemiah,  who 
about  B.C.  444  was  sent  over  by  the  Persian  king  to  be  governor. 
Nehemiah  also  built  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  decidedly 
strengthened  the  feeble  little  nation.  See  the  interesting  ac- 
count of  all  this  in  his  book,  and  in  Ezra  vii.-x.  After  this  the 
Jewish  political  history  is  a  blank  for  almost  300  years ;  there 
are  no  reliable  records  relating  to  it.  Judea  remained  a  prov- 
ince of  the  Persian  empire  till  its  overthrow  by  Alexander  the 
Great  (B.C.  332),  and  then  came  into  the  hands  of  the  Greeks. 
For  many  years  it  was  a  bone  of  contention  between  the  Greek 
kingdoms  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  but  finally  came  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  latter  (B.C.  198).  Then  followed  soon  the  Maccabean 
struggle  (Lesson  XX.).  Meanwhile  several  important 

events  had  occurred.  1.  Nearly  the  whole  of  Canaan,  or,  as  it  was 
afterwards  called,  Palestine,  was  filled  up  by  Jews ;  and  a  good 
many  foreigners  likewise  came  to  live  in  it.  2.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Jews  began  to  settle  in  all  the  countries  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  world,  where  they  became  very  prosperous.  They 
were  especially  numerous  and  influential  in  Egypt.  They  even 
built  a  temple  there,  at  a  place  called  Leontopolis  in  Heliopolis, 
but  this  did  not  amount  to  much;  all  over  the  world  the  Jews 
remained  faithful  to  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  More  important 
was  the  Greek  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  which  the 
Alexandrian  Jews  began  about  B.C.  275  and  finished  about  B.C. 
100.  This  is  what  is  now  called  the  Septuagint;  it  is  a  great 
help  in  the  study  of  the  Old  Testament.  3.  The  Samaritans 
(see  Lesson  XL)  gradually  came  to  be  a  distinct  religious  com- 
munity. They  built  a  temple  on  Mount  Gerizim  (Deut.  xxvii. 
12),  and  kept  up  a  worship  of  the  one  God  independent  of  Jeru- 
salem (John  iv.  20).  They  also  had  a  copy  of  the  Pentateuch, 
the  text  of  which  has  been  preserved.  4.  The  Jews  seem  to  have 
accepted  certain  religious  ideas  from  the  Persians,  and  to  have 
developed  certain  of  their  own  ideas  under  Persian  influence. 
For  example,  the  doctrine  of  angels  becomes  distincter  in  this 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  87 

period,  and  the  idea  of  guardian  angels,  found  in  the  books  of 
Daniel  and  Tobit.  is  very  much  like  that  of  the  Persians.  Pos- 
sibly also  it  was  under  Persian  influence  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  was  acquired.  5.  During  this  period 
synagogues  were  established  (see  Lesson  XXIV.). 

6.     Malachi,  Joel,  Zechariah  II.,  Zechariah  III.  —  We  can 

barely  mention  the  prophets  of  this  period.  Malachi  (about 
B.C.  420)  may  be  called  a  legal  prophet;  he  rebukes  the  people 
for  their  failure  to  fulfil  the  requirements  of  the  temple-service. 
Joel  probably  lived  early  in  the  Greek  period.  On  the  occasion 
of  a  great  plague  of  locusts  (i.-ii.  27)  he  predicted  the  outpour- 
ing of  God's  spirit  on  all  flesh  (ii.  28-32;  see  Acts  ii.  16-21),  and 
announced  a  judgment  of  the  nations  (iii.).  Not  far  from  this 
time  belongs  the  prophecy  contained  in  Zech.  xii.-xiv.,  which 
predicts  the  triumph  of  Yahwe's  worship  at  Jerusalem.  The  date 
of  Zech.  ix.-xi.  is  uncertain,  but  it  also  seems  to  belong  to  the 
Greek  period,  perhaps  about  B.C.  300.  It  speaks  of  Israel's  suffer- 
ing and  future  restoration  to  prosperity.  All  these  prophets  taught 
that  holiness  of  life,  in  obedience  to  God,  and  with  faith  in  him, 
would  bring  blessing  to  the  people;  and  the  blessing  did  really 
come,  not  in  the  shape  of  political  independence  and  power,  but  in 
the  person  of  the  Great  Teacher  whom  God  raised  up  out  of  Israel. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  history:  Ewald's  "  History  of  Israel;"  Prideaux's 
u  Connection;  "  Stanley's  "  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  iii.;  Reuss, 
'*  Geschichte  des  Alten  Testaments,"  Braunschweig,  1881. 

2.  On  the  Septuagint:   the  books  of  Introduction  and  the 
cyclopedias. 

3.  On  the  history  of  the  doctrines  of  angels  and  the  resurrec- 
tion: Nicolas,  *'  Doctrines  Religieuses  des  Juifs;  "  articles  in 
Herzog,  Schenkel,  Encyclopaedia  Britannica;  histories  of  Ewald 
and  others. 

4.  On    the    prophets :     the    commentaries    on    the    Minor 
Prophets;  articles  in  Encyclopaedia  Britannica.     On  Zech.  ix.- 
xiv.,  Stade  in  the  "Zeitschrift  fur  Alttestamentliche  Wissen- 
schaft." 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 


QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  period  have  we  now  reached  ?   What  had  the  prophets  preached  V 
What  had  Israel  done?     What  did  they  now  wish  V     Why  should  they  keep 
themselves  separate  from  other  nations?    How  could  they  do  this?     Who 
would  have  the  control  of  this  service  ?    With  what  are  we  concerned  in 
this  period? 

2.  When  and  by  whom  was  Babylon  taken  ?     What  was  the  extent  of 
the  Persian  empire?    Why  was  the  Persian  king  willing  that  the  Jews 
should  return  to  their  land?    When  did  they  go  back  ?    Did  all  go  ?    Why 
not  ?     How  many  returned  ?    How  many  of  these  were  priests  ?     Why  did 
more  priests  than  Levites  return  ? 

3.  How  were  the  returned  exiles  at  first  employed?     Did  they  forget  the 
claims  of  religion  ?    What  did  they  do  ?     What  hinderances  were  in  their 
way  ?     When  did  the  two  prophets  come  forward  ?    When  was  the  tem- 
ple'finished  ?     Why  did  the  old  men  weep  ?     What  did  Haggai  say?    What 
had  this  handful  of  people  founded  ? 

4.  When  did  Haggai  prophesy  ?     What  does  he  say  ?     What  did  he  ex- 
pect ?     What  was  the  object  of  Zechariah's  visions  ?     What  else  did  he 
teach  ?     What  part  of  the  book  called  Zechariah  belongs  to  this  time  ? 

5.  After  the  building  of  the  temple,  what  was  the  condition  of  the  Jews? 
Did  their  religion  go  forward?    What  Jews  had  been  studying  the  law  ? 
Who  came  to  Judea  ?      When  ?     Whence  ?     For  what  purpose  ?     Who 
seconded  his  efforts  ?    What  did  he  do  ?    What  of  the  history  for  the  next 
three  hundred  years  ?    Into  whose  hands  did  Judea  finally  fall  ?    Mention  an 
important  event  that  occurred   during  this   period  ?      Mention  another  ? 
Where  were  the    Jews  especially  numerous  ?      What    did    they  build  ? 
Did  it  amount  to  much  ?     What  translation  did  they  make  ?    When  ? 
What  third  event  occurred  ?    What  did  they  build  ?    What  book  had  they  ? 
Under  what  influence  do  the  Jews  seem  at  this  time  to  have  attained  new 
religious  ideas  ?     What  doctrines  now  first  clearly  appear  ?     What  religious 
gatherings  now  came  into  use  ? 

6.  When  did  Joel  probably  live  ?     Can  you  point  out  the  divisions  of  his 
book?     Who  quotes  him  in  the  New  Testament?    Has  God's  spirit  been 
poured  out  on  all  men  ?    What  is  the  date  of  Zech.  xii.-xiv.  ?     What  does 
it  predict  ?    The  date  of  Malachi  ?    For  what  does  he  rebuke  the  people  ? 
Of  what  does  Zech.  ix.-xi.  speak  ?    Do  we  know  its  date  certainly  ?    What 
did  all  these  prophets  teach  ?    How  has  the  blessing  come  ? 


RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL.  89 

LESSON   XVIIL 

EZRA'S  REFORM,  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

We  must  go  back,  and  look  for  a  moment  at  the  great  relig- 
ious movement  which  is  connected  with  the  name  of  Ezra.  We 
shall  have  to  ask  what  it  is  that  he  did,  and  how  the  Pentateuch 
came  to  have  its  present  form.  This  is  the  starting-point  of 
the  Judaism  of  Christ's  time. 

1.  Progress  of  Legal  and  Priestly  Ideas.  —  It  was  a  long 
time  before  the  Israelites  built  up  their  great  Law,  which  we  now 
have  in  the  Pentateuch.     At  first  they  got  on  without  written 
law.     Their  judges  and  kings  governed  according  to  their  own 
notions  of  right.     The  priests  offered  sacrifices  all  over  the  land 
according  to  customs  that  had  been  handed  down  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.     Gradually,  as  society  became  better  organ- 
ized, the  religious  laws  or  rules  were  more  accurately  defined,  and 
the  priests,  who  carried  out  these  laws,  became  more  and  more 
influential.    Small  collections  of  laws  were  made  by  pious  men. 
As  the  devotion  to  Yahwe,  God  of  Israel,  increased,  the  necessity 
for  a  formal  worship  according  to  rule  was  more  deeply  felt. 
This  feeling  was  strengthened  during  the  Exile,  when  the  more 
thoughtful  Israelites  began  to  reflect  on  the  condition  of  the 
nation.      What   is   it,  they  asked,  that   we   want?      And  the 
answer  was :  We  want  a  law,  which  shall  keep  us  near  Yahwe, 
and  separate  us  from  the  other  nations.      So  they  began   to 
gather  up  all  the  old  laws,  and  make  new  ones,  and  write  them 
down.     And  of  course,  along  with  this,  the  priests  became  very 
important  persons.      At   last,  indeed,  they   became   the   most 
powerful  class  in  the  nation;  the  more  that  the  political  inde- 
pendence of  the  people  was  lost.     The  nation  came  to  be  priest- 
ridden.     Yet  it  is  probable  that   the  priests  and  others  who 
made  these  laws  wished  to  train  the  people  to  be  holy,  so  that 
they  might  have  the  blessing  of  the  holy  Yahwe. 

2.  What  Ezra  did.  —  Ezra  lived  at  the  time  when  the  col- 
lection of  religious  laws  was  very  nearly  completed.    As  we  have 


90  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

seen,  it  was  the  Jews  in  Babylonia  who  were  particularly  zealous 
in  this  legal  study ;  those  who  had  returned  to  Palestine  were 
so  busy  with  the  bodily  labors  of  a  new  settlement  that  they  had 
little  time  for  study  of  any  sort,  but  the  Babylonian  Jews  had 
leisure  to  think  and  write.  Among  them  Ezra  had  learned  the 
law.  No  doubt  he  was  surprised  and  shocked  when  he  heard 
from  occasional  visitors  that  his  brethren  in  Palestine  were  not 
living  according  to  its  prescriptions.  So  he  determined  to  go 
and  teach  them,  and  accordingly  got  permission  from  the  Per- 
sian king  (Artaxerxes  Longimanus),  came  to  Jerusalem,  and 
began  his  work.  With  the  aid  of  Nehemiah  he  seems  to  have 
succeeded  in  inducing  the  people  to  obey  certain  rules  of  the 
law,  such  as  not  marrying  foreign  wives,  and  keeping  the  sab- 
bath and  the  great  festivals.  He  was  a  reformer,  something 
like  Luther.  He  began  a  new  phase  of  Jewish  life.  Exactly 
how  long  he  worked,  and  how  much  he  accomplished  in  his  life- 
time, we  don't  know;  but  from  his  time  it  was  that  the  Jews 
became  "  the  people  of  the  book."  We  must  describe  this 
book. 

3.  Formation  of  the  Pentateuch.  —  In  those  days  (before 
Ezra's  time)  the  Israelites  had  no  Bible,  no  collection  of  sacred 
books,  which  they  regarded  as  having  been  given  them  by  God. 
Hereafter  (Lesson  XXIII.)  we  shall  see  how  their  Scriptures 
(our  Old  Testament)  were  gradually  gathered  together.  It  was 
in  Ezra's  time  that  this  collecting  began.  We  do  not  know 
that  he  himself  gathered  the  laws  into  a  book,  — it  is  more  prob- 
able that  this  process  had  been  going  on  for  some  time  in  Baby- 
lonia, and  that  he  was  only  one  out  of  many  workers,  per- 
haps a  very  able  and  important  one.  He  may  have  edited, 
as  we  now  say.  almost  all  of  the  Pentateuch.  Let  us  look 
awhile  at  this  book.  The  word  "  Pentateuch  "  (a  Greek 
word,  invented  long  afterwards  in  Alexandria)  means  "the 
fivefold  book,"  that  is,  the  great  work  which  contains  the 
five  books,  Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  and  Deu- 
teronomy. The  Jews  regarded  it  as  the  book,  the  Tora 
(instruction  or  Jaw),  the  foundation  and  essence  of  their  relig- 
ion. But  these  five  books  were  not  written  all  at  once;  their 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  91 

composition  extended  over  several  centuries.  From  time  to 
time  the  traditions  of  the  early  times  (Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob)  were  committed  to  writing;  this  began  as  early  as  B.C. 
800,  or  perhaps  earlier.  Then  the  accounts  of  the  creation  and 
the  first  fortunes  of  the  human  race  were  probably  learned  from 
the  Babylonians  during  the  Exile,  and  all  these  stories  were  put 
together  to  form  the  book  of  Genesis.  Similar  traditions  con- 
cerning the  march  from  Egypt  through  the  wilderness  to  Canaan 
constitute  the  historical  part  of  Exodus  and  Numbers.  At  the 
same  time  collections  of  law  were  being  made.  About  B.C.  750 
or  800  some  man  wrote  down  a  little  law  book,  including  in  it  the 
chief  civil  and  religious  laws  of  that  time.  More  than  a  century 
later  (B.C.  622)  the  legal  part  of  Deuteronomy  was  composed. 
After  this  other  usages  came  into  existence,  and  were  set  down 
in  books.  As  the  ideas  of  the  temple- worship  expanded,  the 
priests  would  make  new  prescriptions.  So,  finally,  the  books  of 
Leviticus  and  Numbers  and  the  account  of  the  tabernacle  in 
Exodus  were  written.  Then  some  one,  perhaps  Ezra,  brought 
all  this  material  together,  and  the  Pentateuch  was  formed.  And, 
inasmuch  as  Moses  was  looked  on  as  the  great  lawgiver,  all  of 
it  was  ascribed  to  him ;  that  is,  it  was  declared  to  be  all  the 
word  of  God;  and,  indeed,  it  was  believed  by  the  priests  to  be 
necessary  to  the  holiness  and  happiness  of  Yahwe's  people, 
Israel.  Many  of  these  ceremonial  laws  are  curious,  and  deserve 
study.  They  were,  no  doubt,  beneficial  in  their  time;  but  they 
are  of  no  religious  use  now;  they  were  superseded  by  the  prin- 
ciples that  Jesus  taught. 

4.  Character  of  the  Pentateuch.  —  The  Pentateuch  may 
almost  be  said  to  be  an  epitome  of  the  religious  history  of 
ancient  Israel.  "  Some  of  its  narratives  (not  traditions,  but 
probably  reliable  history)  go  back  to  B.C.  1000  or  1200,  or  even 
earlier.  Some  of  its  customs  and  laws  are  equally  old.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  contains  laws  and  perhaps  narrations  which  came 
into  existence  after  the  Exile,  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century  B.C.  Its  growth  is  parallel  to  that  of  the  nation.  It  is 
the  Israelitish  Thesaurus,  or  Treasury  of  Traditions  and  Laws. 
Each  narrative  or  collection  of  laws  bears  the  impress  of  the 


92  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

age  in  which  it  originated;   the  whole  is  a  panorama  of  the 
religion  of  Israel.  Careful  examination  of  the  Penta- 

teuch shows  that  its  different  parts  are  distinguished  by  the  use 
of  different  divine  names,  some  having  Elohim  (u  God  "  in  the 
English  version),  others  Yahwe  (THE  LORD  in  the  English  ver- 
sion);  see  Gen.  i.,  ii.,  iii.,  and  iv.  The  Yahwe-parts  are  the 
older;  the  Elohim-portions  were  written  after  the  people  began 
to  drop  the  local,  national  name  of  the  deity,  and  adopt  the 
general  designation  "  God."  The  history  of  the  Flood,  for 
example  (Gen.  vi.-ix.),  is  made  up  from  two  distinct  narratives. 
On  looking  at  it  you  will  see  that  sometimes  u  God  "  and  some- 
times u  The  Lord  "  is  used,  and  there  are  other  differences  cor- 
responding to  these.  Thus  in  chapter  vi.,  verses  11-13  describe 
the  same  thing  as  verses  5-7  (in  verse  5  instead  of  GOD  read  THE 
LORD)  ;  vii.  1-5  goes  over  the  same  ground  as  vi.  14-22. 
From  this  time  on  the  religious  history  of  the  Jews  is  insepar- 
ably connected  with  the  Pentateuch.  From  it  they  draw  their 
inspiration  of  mind  and  soul;  it  furnishes  their  philosophy  as 
well  as  their  religion. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  Ezra  and  his  works:  the  commentaries  and  diction- 
aries.    His  legendary  history  is  given  in  Fourth  Esdras  (Second 
Ezra). 

2.  On  the  origin  and  construction  of  the  Pentateuch:   the 
Introductions   of    DeWette-Schrader   and    Bleek-Wellhausen ; 
articles  "  Bible  "  and  "  Pentateuch  "  and  articles  on  the  several 
books  of  the  Pentateuch  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

QUESTIONS. 

To  what  point  must  we  now  go  back  ?    What  shall  we  have  to  ask  ? 

1.  How  did  the  Israelites  get  on  before  they  had  a  written  law  ?  What 
happened  as  society  became  better  organized  ?  As  devotion  to  Yahwe  in- 
creased, what  was  more  strongly  felt  ?  How  was  this  feeling  strengthened  ? 
What  did  the  more  thoughtful  men  think  they  wanted  ?  What  did  they 
begin  to  do  ?  Who  then  became  important  ?  What  is  meant  by  being 
priest-ridden  V  Did  the  priests  have  a  good  motive  in  what  they  did  ? 


EELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  93 

2.  At  what  time  did  Ezra  live  ?    What  Jews  were  particularly  zealous 
in  the  study  of  the  law  ?    Why  not  those  of  Palestine  ?    What  was  Ezra 
surprised  to  hear  ?    What  did  he  do  ?     Did  he  succeed  in  his  attempt  ? 
Was  he  a  reformer  ?    Like  whom  V    Do  we  know  exactly  what  he  accom- 
plished in  his  life-time  ?     What  was  true  of  the  Jews  from  his  time  ? 

3.  Had  the  Jews  a  Bible  before  Ezra's  time  ?    What  do  you  mean  by 
a  Bible  ?    When  did  the  collecting  of  the  Scriptures  begin  V    Was  it  he  who 
collected  them  V     What  may  he  have  done  ?    What  is  the  meaning  of  the 
word  Pentateuch  ?    What  books   does  it  comprise  ?    How  did  the  Jews 
regard  it  ?    Were  these  books  all  written  at  once  V    Can  you  tell  how  the 
book  of  Genesis  arose  ?  —  the   historical   part  of  Exodus  and  Numbers  ? 
When  was  the  first  collection  of  laws  made,  so  far  as  we  know  ?    What  fol- 
lowed next  V     What  then  ?    What  books  came  thus  to  be  written  V    How 
was  the  Pentateuch  then  formed  ?    To  whom  was  it  ascribed  ?     Why  ? 
What  did  this  signify?    What  did  the  priests   believe?      What  may  be 
said  of  the  ceremonial  laws  ? 

4.  What  may  the  Pentateuch  be  said  to  be  ?    How  early  are  some  of 
its  narratives  and  laws  ?     How  late  are  others  ?    What  would  you  say  of 
its  growth  ?    What  is  meant  by  calling  it  a  thesaurus  ?    In  what  sense  is 
it  a  panorama  ?     How  are  its  different  parts  distinguished  ?    What  are  the 
two  divine  names  ?    Which  parts  are  the  older  ?     What  example  can  you 
give  of  a  narrative  made  out  of  two  other  narratives  ?    From  this  time  what 
is  true  of  the  religious  history  of  the  Jews  ? 


LESSON    XIX. 

LITERATURE  OF  THE  EZRA  PERIOD. 

The  Period  of  Ezra.  —  For  several  hundred  years  after  the 
Restoration  (the  return  to  Canaan)  the  Jews  of  Babylonia  and 
Palestine  were  chiefly  occupied  with  working  out  their  Law  ; 
their  religious  mission  was  to  fix  the  rules  of  religious  life  which 
they  believed  had  been  divinely  revealed  to  them.  Ezra  and 
his  friends,  as  we  have  seen,  composed  the  Pentateuch  ;  and  his 
disciples  after  him  for  two  hundred  years  continued  to  study  it 
zealously.  We  may  therefore  call  this  period  (say  B.C.  500-250) 
by  his  name.  Besides  the  prophets  already  mentioned  (Lesson 
XVII.)  this  period  produced  several  interesting  books  of  which 
we  must  now  say  a  word. 


94  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

1.  The  Book  of  Chronicles.  —  The  book  of  Chronicles  is  a 
history  of  Judah,  composed  or  finished  about  B.C.  300.  As 
early  as  the  middle  of  the  Exile  there  had  been  written  a  history 
of  the  whole  nation,  from  the  time  of  the  Judges  down  to  the 
carrying  away  to  Babylon  ;  this  history  is  given  in  the  books  of 
Judges,  Samuel,  and  Kings  (see  Lesson  XV.).  But  it  was  com- 
posed before  the  final  Pentateuchal  legislation  ;  it  breathes  the 
spirit  of  the  prophets  and  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  that  is,  it 
lays  little  stress  on  the  ceremonial  law.  But  a  change  had  now 
come  over  the  nation.  The  temple-ritual  had  been  introduced. 
All  the  details  of  the  service,  such  as  the  offerings  and  the  sing- 
ing, were  now  thought  to  be  very  important.  Naturally  those 
who  had  become  used  to  these  things  supposed  that  they  had 
always  existed.  It  was  equally  natural  to  wish  to  have  a  history 
of  the  temple  from  the  beginning.  So,  after  a  while,  some  pious 
priest  or  Levite  sat  down  to  compose  a  history  of  the  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem,  in  which  the  temple  was  situated.  This  history 
(our  book  of  Chronicles)  goes  over  the  same  ground  as  Second 
Samuel  and  Kings.  But  it  leaves  out  much  that  they  have,  and 
puts  in  much  that  they  have  not.  It  leaves  out  a  good  deal  of 
the  political  and  personal  history  ;  it  puts  in  a  great  deal  relat- 
ing to  the  temple-service.  The  author  cites  older  writings  ;  but 
he  fills  up  the  picture  according  to  his  own  ideas.  Thus  the 
book  is  not  valuable  as  a  history  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah  ;  we 
cannot  usually  rely  on  it  where  it  differs  from  Samuel  and 
Kings.  But  it  is  very  valuable  as  an  exposition  of  the  ideas  of 
the  author's  own  time.  It  shows  us  that  some  of  the  Jews  then 
attached  more  importance  to  temple-ceremonies  than  to  any 
other  part  of  religion. 

2.  The  Books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  —  The  books  of  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah  formed  originally  one  book,  and  were,  moreover, 
a  part  or  a  continuation  of  Chronicles.  It  brings  the  history 
down  to  the  Exile  and  mentions  the  Restoration  ;  they  begin 
with  the  Restoration,  and  come  down  to  the  end  of  Nehemiah 's 
government  (about  B.C.  430)  ;  they  also  give  a  list  of  priests 
down  to  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great  (Neh.  xii.  10,  11). 
Their  object  is  to  describe  the  building  of  the  second  temple, 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  95 

and  the  enforcement  of  the  Law  by  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  This 
was,  in  fact,  the  introduction  of  the  complete  ceremonial  law.  It 
was  the  founding  of  the  new  Jewish  Church. 

3.  The  Book  of  Jonah.  —  In  contrast  with  this  legal  litera- 
ture is  another  work,  which  may  be  assigned  to  this  period, 
though  its  exact  date  is  uncertain.     The  story  of  the  book  of 
Jonah  is  familiar  to  us  all.     The  prophet  is  sent  to  preach  the 
wrath  of  God  to  the  great  city  of  Nineveh.     The  people  repent 
and  God  pardons  them.     At  this  the  prophet  murmurs  ;  but 
God   teaches   him   that   it  is  right  to  be  merciful  even  to  the 
heathen.     Thus,  while   the   legalists  were   building   a  wall  of 
ceremonies  between  Israel  and  the  other  nations,  the  unknown 
author    of    this   little   book   taught   that   God's   mercy   is   not 
bounded  by  national  lines.      It  is  a  teaching  worthy  of   the 
New  Testament  (see  Matt.  xii.   41).     The  hero  of  the  story 
is  the   prophet  of  the   time   of  Jeroboam   II.    (2   Kings   xiv. 
25) ,  but  the  book  is  a  religious  apologue  composed  long  after 
this.     Its  religious  value  is  independent  of  the  adventures  in 
chapter  i. 

4.  The  Book  of  Esther.  —  The  book  of  Esther  was  written 
to  give  an  account  of  the  Jewish  feast  of  Purim,  which  is  still 
celebrated  on  the  14th  and  15th  days  of  the  month  Adar  (about 
the  first  of  March).     It  is  referred  to  in  2  Maccabees  xv.  36, 
under  the  name  of  the  day  of  Mardochseus  (Mordecai).    This  feast 
commemorates  a  deliverance  of  the  Jews  from  a  Persian  perse- 
cutor, and  is  highly  valued  by  them.     But  the  book  breathes  no 
pure  religious  spirit  ;  it  contains  nothing  but  hatred  and  revenge. 
The  name  of  God  does  not  occur  in  it,  and  it  says  nothing  of 
prayer.     It  is  merely  a  record  of  national  feeling.     To  make  up 
for  its  religious  deficiencies,  some  chapters  containing  prayers 
were  afterwards  added  to  it  ;  these  are  found  in  the  Greek  ver- 
sion, but  not  in  the  Hebrew.     The  story  is  laid  in  the  time  of 
the  Persian  king  Xerxes  (Ahasuerus).      It  is  hardly  reliable 
history. 

5.  The  Book  of  Job.  —  It  is  probably  to  this  period  (though 
it  may  be  a  hundred  years  earlier)  that  we  are  to  assign  a  re- 


96  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

markable  book  (Job) ,  which  introduces  us  to  a  new  species  of 
literature  and  a  new  phase  of  Israelitish  thought.  Israel  had 
not  only  prophets,  who  preached  trust  in  and  obedience  to  Israel's 
holy  God,  and  priests,  who  directed  his  worship  in  the  temples, 
but  also  wTise  men  or  sages,  who  studied  philosophy.  By  phil- 
osophy we  mean  the  explanation  of  man's  soul,  of  human  life, 
and  of  the  world.  The  Israelitish  philosophers  seem  to  have 
confined  themselves  at  first  to  giving  short  descriptions  of  facts 
of  life,  and  rules  for  its  guidance,  in  the  form  of  apothegms  or 
proverbs  (see  Lessons  XXI.  and  XXII.).  Afterwards  they  dis- 
cussed wider  questions,  and  especially  whether  goodness  is 
always  rewarded  with  outward  prosperity  in  this  world.  The 
great  mystery  was  that  sometimes  good  men  seem  to  suffer,  and 
bad  men  to  be  prosperous  and  happy  ;  how  could  a  holy  God 
permit  this  ?  For  a  long  time  the  sages  explained  this  by  say- 
ing that  good  men  were  always  eventually  rewarded  and  bad 
men  always  came  to  a  bad  end  (see,  for  example,  Ps.  Ixxiii.). 
Nobody  said  anything  of  a  future  life  ;  on  this  point  the  ancient 
Israelites  had  very  dim  ideas.  But  this  explanation 

was  not  satisfactory  to  all  thinkers  ;  it  is,  in  fact,  not  true.  It 
did  not  satisfy  the  author  of  the  book  of  Job,  and  he  looks  for 
some  other  solution.  The  plan  of  the  book  is  this.  A  rich  and 
powerful  sheikh  or  pastoral  prince  is  suddenly  overwhelmed  with 
misfortunes  ;  he  loses  his  property  and  his  children,  and  is 
afflicted  with  loathsome  leprosy.  Three  of  his  friends  come  to 
condole  with  him  (chapters  i. ,  ii.) .  Then  they  fall  to  discussing 
his  case,  —  why  was  he  thus  stricken  ?  The  three  friends  give 
the  old  explanation  :  it  was,  they  said,  because  he  had  been  a 
great  sinner,  and  this  suffering  was  the  just  punishment  of  his 
sins.  He  answered  that  he  was  not  a  great  sinner;  that  he  had, 
on  the  contrary,  been  upright,  and  that  he  would  prove  it,  if  he 
could  only  see  God,  and  plead  his  cause  face  to  face.  Finally, 
however,  he  affirmed  his  confidence  in  God  (iii.-xxxi.).  Then, 
in  the  original  form  of  the  poem,  followed  the  address  of  Yahwe 
(xxxviii.-xli.),  in  which  he  sets  forth  his  power,  and  leaves  Job 
to  infer  that  he  is  to  submit  to  God's  providences  without  being 
able  to  understand  them.  And  at  the  end,  Job  regains  pros- 
perity and  happiness  (xlii.).  Afterwards  an  addition  was  made 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  97 

to  the  argument;  another  speaker  (Elihu)  was  introduced,  who 
affirmed  that  the  object  of  suffering  is  to  make  men  better  (xxxii. 
-xxxvii.).  So  the  argument  of  the  book  is  not  conclusive;  but  it 
contains  noble  religious  sentiments  (especially  emphasizing  trust 
in  God),  and  it  shows  us  how  earnestly  one  part  of  Israel  were  at 
this  time  seeking  to  know  the  ways  of  God  with  men.  God  spoke 
to  his  people  and  to  us  no  less  through  the  sages  than  through 
the  prophets  and  the  priests.  The  book  of  Job  is  one  of  the  most 
splendid  poetical  productions  of  the  world.  The  narrative  por- 
tion (chapters  i.,  ii.,  xlii.)  is  only  a  frame- work  for  the  relig- 
ious argument.  There  may  have  been  a  man  named  Job  who 
suffered  great  misfortunes ;  but  the  scenes  in  which  Satan  ap- 
pears, and  the  speeches  of  Job  and  his  friends  and  of  Yah  we, 
are  the  invention  of  the  author  of  the  book. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  Chronicles  :  see  Lesson  VII.     The  works  on  Intro- 
duction may  be  consulted  for  all  books. 

2.  On  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  :    Bertheau's   Commentary,  and 
articles  in  encyclopaedias  and  dictionaries. 

3.  On   Jonah  :  the  commentaries  on  the   Minor  Prophets, 
and  the  books  on  Prophecy. 

4.  On  Esther:    "  Kurzgef  asstes  Exegetisches  Handbuch  ; " 
articles  in  cyclopedias. 

5.  On  Job  :     commentaries  of  Delitzsch,  Merx,  Cox,  Lange; 
articles   in    cyclopedias;    W.     H.    Green's   "Book   of    Job;" 
Kenan's  French  translation;  Froude,  "  Short  Studies,"  I. 

QUESTIONS. 

How  were  the  Jews  of  Babylonia  and  Palestine  occupied  after  the  Restora- 
tion ?  What  was  their  mission  ?  What  did  Ezra  and  his  friends  and  dis- 
ciples do  ?  Why  may  we  call  this  the  Ezra  period  ?  What  is  its  date  ? 
What  books  were  then  written  ? 

1.  What  is  the  book  of  Chronicles  ?  About  when  was  it  written  ?  What 
history  of  the  whole  nation  was  before  this  in  existence  ?  What  spirit  did 
it  breathe  ?  What  change  had  now  come  over  the  people  ?  What  did  those 
who  had  been  used  to  these  things  think  ?  What  did  they  wish  ?  What 

7 


98  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

did  a  priest  or  Levite  do  ?  Over  what  ground  does  this  history  go  ?  What 
does  it  leave  out  ?  What  does  it  put  in  ?  What  does  the  author  do  ?  Is 
the  book  valuable  as  a  history  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah  V  How  is  it  valu- 
able ?  What  does  it  show  ? 

2.  What  is  the  relation  of  the  books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  to  Chronicles  ? 
Where  does  Chronicles  end  ?     Where  do  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  begin  V     [Com- 
pare 2  Chron.  xxxvi.  22,  23,  with  Ezra  i   1-3.]    What  list  of  priests  do  they 
give  V     What  is  their  object  ?    What  was  this  in  fact  ? 

3.  What  book  stands  in  contrast  with  this  legal  literature  ?    What  is  the 
story  of  the  book  V    What  did  its  author  teach  ?    Is  this  worthy  of  the 
New  Testament  ?     Who  is  the  hero  of  the  story  V     Was  the  book  composed 
by  him  ?    Of  what  is  its  religious  value  independent  ?    Can  you  explain 
what  you  mean  by  this  ? 

4.  For  what  purpose  was  the  book  of  Esther  written  V    Where  is  this 
feast  mentioned  ?     What  was  it  intended  to  commemorate  V    What  is  its 
spirit  V     What  does  not  occur  in  it  V    How  did  this  happen  ?     [The  author 
was  thinking  wholly  of  the  event  he  was  describing,  as  a  national  triumph.] 
What  were  afterwards  added  to  it  V    Where  are  these  found  ?    In  what  time 
is  the  story  laid  ?     Is  it  reliable  history  ? 

5.  What  other  book  is  probably  to  be  assigned  to  this  period  V     Does  it 
belong  to  a  different  sort  of  literature  from  that  we  have  been  considering  ? 
What  writers  did  Israel  have  besides  priests  and  prophets  ?     What  did  the 
prophets  do  V  —  the  priests  V    What  did  the  sages  study  ?    What  is  philoso- 
phy ?     To  what  did  the  Israelitish  philosophers  at  first  confine  themselves  ? 
What  question  particularly  did  they  afterwards  discuss  ?    What  was  the 
great  mystery  to  them  ?     How  did  they  explain  it  for  a  long  time  ?    In  what 
Psalm  is  the  explanation  given  ?     [Read  the  Psalm.]     Did  they  speak  of  a 
future  life  ?     Why  not  ?     [We  shall  see  how  they  gradually  got  clearer 
ideas.]     Was  this  explanation  satisfactory  to  all  persons  ?    Did  it  satisfy  the 
author  of  the  book  of  Job  ?    Do  we  know  who  he  was  ?     [No.]     What  is 
the  plan  of  the  book  ?    Can  you  point  out  the  divisions  by  chapters  ?    Does 
the  b  ok  after  all  explain  why  good  men  sometimes  suffer,  and  bad  men  are 
sometimes  prosperous  ?    Can  you  explain  this  ?    What  does  the  book  con- 
tain ?    What  does  it  show  us  ?    How  did  God  speak  to  his  people  ?    What 
is  to  be  said  of  the  book  of  Job  as  poetry  ?    What  of  the  narrative  portion  ? 
Was  there  a  man  named  Job  ?    What  parts  of  the  book  are  the  composition 
of  the  author  ? 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  99 


LESSON     XX. 

THE    HASMONEANS. 

The  Struggle  for  Freedom.  —  In  a  former  Lesson  (XVII.) 
we  have  followed  the  political  history  down  to  the  point  where 
Judea  fell  under  the  control  of  the  Greek  kingdom  of  Syria. 
We  must  now  describe  the  Jews'  struggle  for  freedom,  and  the 
fortunes  of  the  native  dynasty  that  thence  arose  ;  it  is  a  time  of 
splendid  heroism,  when  for  one  brief  moment  the  national  life 
flamed  out  gloriously  before  it  sank  forever  under  the  iron  power 
of  Rome. 

1.  Antiochus  Epiphanes. — While  the  successors  of  Alex- 
ander had  been  quarrelling  among  themselves  over  his  empire, 
the  Roman  republic  had  been  slowly  gathering  strength,  and 
now,  having  conquered  its  neighbors  in  Europe,  had  begun  to 
interfere  in  the  affairs  of  western  Asia.  It  acted  as  arbiter  and 
judge  between  rival  powers.  However,  it  did  not  always  inter- 
fere in  the  internal  management  of  the  various  kingdoms.  It 
allowed  Syria  to  govern  Judea  ;  and  after  a  while  the  Jews  re- 
belled against  Syrian  oppression.  It  happened  in  this  way.  In 
the  year  175  B.C.  Antiochus  IV.,  called  Epiphanes  (the  illus- 
trious), ascended  the  throne  of  Syria.  He  was  a  man  not  with- 
out military  skill  and  administrative  capacity,  but  extravagant, 
inordinately  ambitious,  cruel,  and  bent  on  carrying  out  his  plans 
without  regard  to  the  rights  or  comfort  of  others.  Vexed  at  the 
failure  of  one  of  his  attacks  on  Egypt  (when  the  Romans  inter- 
fered and  stopped  him),  he  vented  his  anger  on  the  Jews,  many 
of  whom  he  put  to  death  Finally  he  determined  to  force  them 
to  give  up  their  own  religion,  and  adopt  his.  He  carried  off  the 
sacred  vessels  of  the  temple,  and  built  an  altar  to  Zeus  (Jupiter) 
on  the  altar  of  burnt  offering  in  the  temple-court;  he  caused 
swine's  flesh  to  be  sacrificed  in  the  sacred  place ;  he  forbade  the 
people  to  circumcise  their  children ;  and  he  tried  to  destroy  the 
sacred  books.  The  Jews  bore  loss  of  property  and  of  life ;  but 
they  could  not  give  up  the  religion  of  their  fathers.  They  re- 
volted. 


100  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

2.  The   Two    Jewish    Parties.  —  But  not   all   the  people 
opposed  the  designs  of  the  Syrian  king.     They  were  divided  in- 
to two  parties,  one  of  which  was  favorable  to  foreign  ideas,  while 
the  other  was  bitterly  hostile  to  them.     The  former  was  the 
Hellenizing  party ;  those  who  belonged  to  it  adopted  Grecian 
names,  introduced  games  and  gymnasiums,  and  tried  to  be  as 
much  like  Greeks  as  possible.     The  other  was  the  national  party, 
who   believed  in  holding  to  the  customs  of  their  forefathers  ; 
they  were  also  called  the  Hasidim,  that  is,  the  Pious.     We  see 
it  was  a  dispute  very  much  like  that  between  the  prophets  and 
the  Baal- worshippers  long  before  (Lesson  IX.).     The  Helleniz- 
ing party  aided  Antiochus  in  his  designs,  and  the  Samaritans 
sent  word  to  him  that  they  were  unconnected  with  and  hostile 
to  the  Jews. 

3.  The  War   of  Freedom.  —  The  national  party  were  de- 
termined to  resist  the  king.     War  was  brought  on,  very  much 
as  in  the  American  Revolution  (battle  of  Lexington).     One  day 
a  Syrian  (Greek)  officer  came  to  a  little  place  called  Modin  to 
set  up  the  Grecian  worship  there.     An  old  priest  named  Matta- 
thias  slew  him,  and  then  fled  with  his  friends  to  the  wilderness. 
Here,  aided  by  his  five  valiant  sons,  he  kept  up  a  war  against 
the  Syrians.     After  his  death  his  son  Judas  became  the  leader 
of  the  national  party.     He  is  the  hero  of  the  war.     Fertile  in 
invention,   able  in  action,  with  a  courage  that  nothing  could 
daunt,  ardently  devoted  to  the  religion  of  Israel,  he  was  the  idol 
of  the  patriots,  and  the  saviour  of  his  country.     Over  and  over 
again  he  defeated  large  bodies  of   Syrians  with   a  handful  of 
troops.     He  recovered  Jerusalem,   and  purged   the  temple  of 
idols.     Meantime  King  Antiochus  died,  and  in  December,  164 
B.C.,  the  temple  was  dedicated  anew  to  the  God  of  Israel,  and  a 
feast  instituted  in  commemoration   of  the  happy  event.     This 
was  the  Feast  of  the  Dedication  of  which  we  read  in  the  New 
Testament  (John  x.  22).     From  his  bravery  Judas  received  the 
name  of  Maccabseus  (which  perhaps  means  "  the  hammer"),  and 
his  family  are  thence  called  the  Maccabees,  and  this  period  the 
Maccabean  age.     He  fell  in  battle,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
brothers  Jonathan  and  Simon.     The  latter  was  a  wise  and  good 
anan  ;  under  him  the  Syrians  made  a  treaty  with  the  Jews,  and 


RELIGION   OF'  ISRAEL.  101 

ne  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome,  which  was  favorably  received. 
The  independence  of  the  nation  was  now  established;  Simon 
became  the  chief  political  and  religious  officer  (prince  and  high- 
priest). 

4.  The    Hasmonean    Dynasty.  —  Thus   was   established   a 
native  Judean  dynasty  of  priest-princes.    They  were  called  Has- 
moneans  (or  Asmoneans),  the  origin  of  which  name  is  uncertain. 
Simon  died  B.C.  135.     His  son,  John  Hyrcanus  I.,  conquered 
the  Idumeans  (EdomJ,  and  destroyed  the  Samaritan  temple  on 
Mount  Gerizim.     John's  son  Aristobulus  is  said  by  Josephus  to 
be  the  first  of  the  line  who  assumed  the  title  of  king.     Now 
began  tac  decline  of  the  little  kingdom.    After  Aristobulus  came 
his  brother,  Alexander  Jannaeus,  whose  sons,  Hyrcanus  and  Aris- 
tobulus, after  his  death  disputed  the  crown  between  them.    The 
Romans  interfered,  and  Pompey  captured  Jerusalem  (B.C.  64), 
but  did  not  hold  it.     Finally  Julius  Caesar  took  the  kingdom 
from   the   Jewish  princes,  and  made   the    Idumean   Antipater 
procurator  or  governor;  this  Antipater  had  been  the  minister 
or  chief  adviser  of  King  John  Hyrcanus  II. ;  we  shall  hear  more 
of  his  son  Herod.     So  ended  the  Hasmonean  dynasty. 

5.  The    Three    Sects    or    Parties. — During    this  period 
arose  the  sects  or  parties  of  the  Sadducees,  the  Pharisees,  and 
the  Essenes,  the  two  first  of  which  are  often  spoken  of  in  the 
Gospels.     The  significations  of  these  names  are  not  well  under- 
stood.    The  Sadducees  were  the  rich  and  aristocratic  people, 
who  were  in  favor  of  maintaining  the  national  life,  but  at  the 
same  time  adopting  the  culture  of  the  Greeks  ;  many  of  the 
priests  belonged  to  this  party.     The  Pharisees  were  the  strict, 
exclusive  national  party.     They  hated  foreigners  and  foreign 
ideas.     They  made  much  of  the  ceremonial  part  of  religion,  and 
of  the  traditional  explanations  of  the  Law  that  had  been  slowly 
growing  up.     The  Essenes  were  given  to  ascetic  observances. 
They  lived  in  separate  communities,  held  all  property  in  com- 
mon, did  not  marry,  and  spent  all  their  time  in  religious  acts, 
such  as  bathing,  reading  the  Scriptures,  praying,  and  meditating. 


102  THE  *EISTOBY   OF   THE 


LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  history:  The  first  and  second  books  of  Macca- 
bees, of  which  the  first  is  the  more  reliable  ;  Josephus's  Antiq- 
uities ;  the  histories  of  Ewald,  Milman,  Stanley,  Graetz,  and  E. 
H.  Palmer,  London,  1874  ;  Condor's  "Judas  Maccabseus  ; "  Jost, 
44  Geschichte  des  Judenth urns,"  books  i  andii.,  Leipzig,  1857; 
Schneckenburger's  "  Neutestamentliche  Zeitgeschichte, "  Frank- 
fort, 1862  ;  and  similar  works  by  Hausrath,  Heidelberg,  1868, 
and  Schiirer,  Leipzig,  1874. 

2.  On  the    parties:  the  same  works;  Wellhausen,  "  Phari- 
saer    und   Sadducaer,"    Greifswald,    1874;    A.    Geiger,   "  Das 
Judenthum  und  seine  Geschichte,"  Breslau,  1865  ;   articles  in 
cyclopedias. 

QUESTIONS. 

How  far  have  we  followed  the  political  history?    What  is  now  to  be  de- 
scribed?    What  was  the  character  of  the  time? 

1.  What  people  had  been  slowly  gathering  strength?    What  had  it  begun 
to  do?    As  what  did  it  act?    Did  it  allow  Syria  to  govern  Judea?     What 
did  the  Jews  do?    Who  ascended  the  throne  of  Syria,  B.C.  175  ?     What 
was  his  character?    When  did  he  vent  his  anger  on  the  Jews?    What  did  he 
finally  determine  to  do?    How  did  he  proceed?    How  did  the  Jews  take 
this? 

2.  Did  all  the  people  oppose  the  designs  of  Antiochus?    Into  what  two 
parties  were  they  divided?    What  are  the  names  of  these  parties?     How 
did  the  Hellenizers  act?     [To  Hellenize  means  to  act  like  a  Greek.]     What 
did  the  national  party  believe  in?    What  earlier  dispute  was  this  like?  Did 
the  Hellenizers  aid  the  king?    What  did  they  tell  him? 

3.  What  was  the  national  party  determined  to  do?    How  was  war  brought 
on?    What  happened  when  the  officer  came  to  Modin  to  set  up  the  worship 
of  Greek  gods?    After  the  death  of  Mattathias,  who  became  the  leader  of 
the  national  party?     What  was  his  character?    Was  he  often  successful  in 
battle?    Did  he  recover  Jerusalem?     [The  Syrians  had  taken  possession  of 
the  city.]     What  feast  was  instituted?    When?    To  commemorate  what? 
Where  is  it  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament?     What  name  did  Judas  re- 
ceive?   Why?    What  are  his  family  called?     What  is  this  period  called? 
Who  succeeded  Judas?    What  was  the  character  of  Simon?    What  did  he 
accomplish?     Was  the  nation  now  independent?    What  did  Simon  become? 

4.  What  was  thus  established?    What  were  they  called?     When  did 
Simon  die?    What  did  his  son  Hyrcanus  do?    What  title  did  Aristobulus 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  103 

assume?  In  the  quarrels  that  afterwards  arose  among  the  Jewish  princes, 
what  power  interfered?  What  Roman  general  took  Jerusalem?  Whom  did 
Julius  Caesar  make  procurator?  What  had  Antipater  been?  Did  this  end 
the  Hasmonean  dynasty? 

5.  What  three  sects  or  parties  arose  during  this  period?  Which  of  them 
are  mentioned  in  the  Gospels?  Who  were  the  Sadducees?  — the  Pharisees? 
What  did  they  hate?  What  did  they  make  much  of?  To  what  were  the 
Essenes  given?  How  did  they  live?  How  did  they  spend  their  time? 


LESSON     XXL 

LATER  LITERATURE.     1.   RITUAL  AND  DIDACTIC. 

The  Classes  of  the  Literature.  — We  have  described  the 
literature  down  to  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  the  year 
300  (Lesson  XIX.).  We  must  now  speak  of  certain  books  that 
were  written  or  finished  after  this.  Please  observe  in  the  case 
of  each  book  whether  it  was  wholly  composed  or  only  brought  to 
completion  at  this  time.  This  was  a  period  of  literary  as  well 
as  political  activity  (the  two  frequently  go  together),  and  pro- 
duced some  admirable  works,  We  may  divide  the  literature 
into  three  classes  :  the  ritual  and  didactic  ;  the  apocalyptic  ;  and 
the  prophetic  and  historical.  Let  us  begin  with  the  first  of 
these,  in  which  we  shall  include  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Ecclesiasticus 
or  the  Wisdom  of  the  Son  of  Sirach,  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon, 
Ecclesiastes,  and  the  Song  of  Songs. 

1.  Psalms.  —  The  book  of  Psalms  is  the  hymn-book  of  the 
Jewish  Church  ;  it  is  the  collection  of  sacred  songs  that  were 
sung  in  the  temple  after  the  return  from  Babylon.  These  songs 
express  Israel's  deepest  religious  feeling  ;  they  are  the  cries 
of  souls  filled  with  longing  after  God  ;  they  are  the  voice  of 
God  speaking  in  the  hearts  of  his  servants.  They  set  forth  the 
personal  experience  of  the  soul  in  its  striving  after  communion 
and  oneness  with  the  Father  of  our  spirits  ;  they  sing  of  sorrow 
for  sin,  hope,  trust,  love.  They  belong  to  us  and  all  the  world  ; 
though  the  times  have  changed,  these  old  hymns  continue  to 
furnish  us  with  a  high  and  true  expression  of  our  religious  emo- 


104  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

tions.  As  to  their   poetical  character,  they  are  rhyth- 

mical, sonorous,  sweet,  in  the  English  translation  as  well  as  in 
the  Hebrew.  They  were  sung  by  choirs  composed  of  Levites  and 
women.  They  had  no  musical  parts  except  octaves;  the  melo- 
dies, which  were  very  simple,  have  probably  survived  in  part  in 
our  Gregorian  chants.  It  is  probable  that  some  of  the 

Psalrns  were  written  as  early  as  King  Hezekiah's  time  (about  B.C. 
700)  ;  and  they  continued  to  be  composed  during  £he  Exile  (see 
Lesson  XVI.  paragraph  4) ,  and  afterwards  down  to  and  during 
the  Maccabean  war  of  freedom  (Ps.  xliv.,  Ixxiv.,  Ixxix.  seem  to 
belong  to  the  Maccabean  period).  The  inscriptions  or  titles, 
which  give  the  authors  and  occasions,  do  not  belong  to  the  Psalms 
themselves  ;  they  were  prefixed  later  by  editors,  and  are  not 
reliable.  Many  of  the  Psalms  are  ascribed  to  David,  but  it  is 
not  probable  that  he  wrote  any  of  them.  We  find  out  their 
dates  by  observing  what  periods  of  the  history  their  contents 
best  agree  with.  From  time  to  time  collections  of  ex- 

isting psalms  were  made.  Five  of  these  books  are  indicated  in 
our  Psalter  :  1.  Ps.  i.-xli.  ;  2.  Ps.  xlii.-lxxii.  ;  3.  Ps.  Ixxiii.- 
Ixxxix. ;  4.  Ps.  xc.-cvi.;  5.  Ps.  cvii.-cl.  You  will  find  short 
doxologies  at  the  end  of  each  of  these  books,  except  the  last,  of 
which  the  concluding  Psalm  is  itself  a  doxology.  Finally,  all  the 
books  were  gathered  into  one,  perhaps  about  the  year  150  B.C., 
and  that  is  our  book  of  Psalms.  The  Greek  version  (Sep- 
tuagint)  has  an  additional  Psalm,  said  to  be  a  description  by 
David  of  his  combat  with  Goliath  (1  Sam.  xvii.),  and  also, 
in  some  copies,  another  later  psalm-book  called  the  Psalter  of 
Solomon,  inferior  in  tone  to  our  Psalms  (about  B.C.  45). 

2.  Proverbs. —  In  a  former  Lesson  (XIX.)  we  saw  the  na- 
ture of  the  Israelitish  philosophy,  how  it  dealt  with  questions  of 
moral  and  religious  life.  The  sages  were  accustomed  to  give 
their  instruction  in  the  form  of  aphorisms  or  proverbs  ;  people 
then  had  no  books,  and  could  more  easily  remember  these  short 
sayings.  You  will  find  such  sayings  in  the  book  of  Proverbs, 
chapters  x.-xxx.  ;  chapters  i.-ix.  and  xxxi.  are  more  connected 
discourses.  There  is  much  deep  wisdom  in  these  proverbs  ; 
some  good  men  have  found  it  well  to  take  one  of  them  every  day 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  105 

as  a  motto  for  the  day,  to  think  about  and  follow.  We 

do  not  know  exactly  when  they  were  composed  or  collected.  It 
is  said  that  some  of  them  were  gathered  in  Hezekiah's  time 
(Prov.  xxv.  1).  Most  of  them  were  ascribed  by  tradition  to 
Solomon,  as  so  many  of  the  Psalms  were  ascribed  to  David. 
Solomon  may  have  gathered  wise  men  about  him,  and  encour- 
aged them  to  put  their  views  of  life  into  the  form  of  proverbs, 
and  may  himself  have  been  a  sage.  Parts  of  our  book  of 
Proverbs  were  probably  composed  in  the  Greek  period,  and 
the  whole  was  probably  collected  about  the  same  time  as 
the  Psalms. 

3.  Ecclesiasticus  *,    or,    the    Wisdom    of   the    Son    of 
Sirach.  —  At  this  time  the  Jews  were  much  inclined  to  compose 
such  books.  About  B.C.  190  a  man  named  Jesus  gathered  together 
some  sayings  of  wise  men  that  he  had  heard,  and  added  some 
of  his  own  ;  and  about  sixty  years  later  (probably  B.C.  132)  his 
grandson,  Jesus,  the  son  of  Sirach,  edited  his  grandfather's  work, 
probably  adding  something  to  it.     This  is  the  book  that  is  called 
Ecclesiasticus,  or  sometimes  simply  the  Son  of  Sirach.     It  is 
very  much  like  Proverbs,  but  also  differs  somewhat  from  it.     It 
is  distinctively  Jewish  :  it  delights  in  the  service  of  the  temple, 
and  puts  Israel's  happiness  in  obedience  to  the  Lord ;  and  it  con- 
fines itself  to  the  present  life.     It  has  allusions  to  the  customs 
of  the  late  time  in  which  it  was  written.     It  contains  a  good 
deal  that  is  valuable.     The  common  abbreviation  of  the  name 
Ecclesiasticus  is  "  Ecclus."     This  book  is  not  in  the  Hebrew 
Canon. 

4.  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon.  —  Of  the  same  general  nature 
is  another  book  which  was  written  about  this  time,  —  the  Wis- 
dom of  Solomon.     It  is  a  long  hymn  in  praise  of  godly  wisdom, 
and  has  many  excellent  precepts  for  the  guidance  of  life.     But 
it  differs  from  the  Son  of  Sirach 's  work  in  two  important  respects. 
It  is  less  distinctively  Jewish  ;  indeed,  it  has  a  tinge  of  Greek 
thought  (it  was  probably  written  in  Alexandria),  —  a  broad,  phil- 

•  osophic  tone.  It  speaks  of  Wisdom  almost  as  if  it  were  a  person 
(very  much  as  Prov.  viii.  12-36).  And,  secondly,  what  is  more 
important,  it  distinctly  teaches  that  man  is  immortal.  It  is  the 


106  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

earliest  Jewish  book,  so  far  as  we  know,  that  does  this.  In  the 
Pentateuch,  the  Prophets,  the  Psalms,  and  the  other  books  of 
the  Old  Testament,  except  Daniel,  future  existence  is  spoken  of 
as  almost  non-existence.  Sheol,  the  underworld,  to  which  all 
men  are  supposed  to  go  after  death,  is  described  as  a  cheerless 
place,  where  there  is  no  activity  and  no  hope.  But  this  book 
says  that  u  God  created  man  to  be  immortal,  and  made  him  to 
be  an  image  of  his  own  nature  "  (ii.  23).  It  was  only  gradu- 
ally that  Israel  came  to  a  clear  knowledge  of  immortality.  The 
Wisdom  of  Solomon  is  not  in  the  Hebrew  Canon. 

5.  Ecclesiastes  ;  or,  the  Preacher.  —  The  most  remarkable 
of  this  class  of  works  is  that  which  is  commonly  called  Ecclesi- 
astes (abbreviated  for  reference  into  "  Eccles.").     It  is  a  discus- 
sion of  human  life,  put  into  the  mouth  of  King  Solomon,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  the  time,  which  liked  to  rest  its  wisdom  on  the 
authority  of  ancient  sages.     It  says  nothing  of  a  future  life  of 
work  and  hope,  and  what  it  says  of  this  life  is  marked  by  a 
complete  absence  of  enthusiasm.     The  author  expects  nothing 
satisfactory   from   any   human   effort.      Not  only  money   and 
power,  but  even  wisdom  fails,  he  says,  to   make  its  possessor 
happy.     Everything  passes  away,  and  man  himself  passes  away, 
and  leaves  no  trace  behind.     So,  our  author  declares,  the  best 
thing  to  do  is  to  enjoy  such  good  things  as  the  bounty  of  God 
gives  us,  and  not  to  vex  ourselves  with  ceaseless  efforts  after 
wealth  and  wisdom.     But  we  are  to  enjoy  ourselves,  he  says,  not 
foolishly  or  wickedly  ;  we  are  to  have  the  fear  of  God  before  our 
eyes  and  to  do  nothing  in  excess.     This  is,  in  many  respects,  a 
most  excellent  philosophy.     On  one  side  it  approaches  the  word 
of  Jesus,  that  we  are  not  to  harass  ourselves  about  'to-morrow 
(Matt.  vi.  34).     It   differs  from   the  teaching  of  Jesus  in  not 
having  a  warm,  loving  trust  in  God.     The  book  was  probably 
written  in  the  second  century  B.C. 

6.  The  Song  of  Songs.  —  This  is  a  lyric  poem,  apparently 
composed  to  praise  and  recommend  faithful  wedded  love.     It 
seems  to  belong  to  this  period.     It  has  been  usually,  but  im- 
properly, treated  as  an  allegory. 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  107 


LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  Psalms  :  the  commentaries  of  Delitzsch  (English 
translation),  Perowne,   Lange,   Olshausen  ;  Murray's  "Origin 
of  the  Psalms,"  New  York,  1880  ;  Noyes's  translation  ;  Ewald's 
"Poets  of  the  Old  Covenant,"  English  translation. 

2.  On  Proverbs :  commentaries  of  Delitzsch,  Lange,  Miller, 
Noyes. 

3.  On  Ecclesiasticus  and  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon:  Lange  and 
the  "  Kurzgefasstes  Exegetisches  Handbuch,"  on  the  Apocrypha. 

4.  On  Ecclesiastes  :  commentaries  of  Lange  and  the  Hand- 
buch ;  Kenan's  translation,  Paris,  1882  ;  Noyes. 

5.  On  the  Song  of  Songs  :  German  translation  and  commen- 
tary of  Graetz  ;  Noyes. 

QUESTIONS. 

How  far  down  has  the  literature  been  described?  In  the  present  period 
what  must  be  observed  in  the  case  of  each  book?  What  was  the  character 
of  this  period?  Into  what  three  classes  may  the  literature  be  divided? 
What  books  are  included  in  the  first  ? 

1.  What  is  the  book  of  Psalms?  What  do  its  songs  express?  What 
experience  do  they  set  forth?  Of  what  do  they  sing?  To  whom  do  they 
belong?  What  is  their  poetical  character?  How  were  they  sung?  Had 
they  musical  parts?  What  was  the  nature  of  the  melodies?  In  what  have 
they  survived?  How  early  were  some  of  these  Psalms  composed?  How 
long  did  they  continue  to  be  composed?  Are  the  inscriptions  reliable?  To 
what  man  are  many  of  the  Psalms  ascribed?  Is  it  probable  that  he  wrote 
any?  How  do  we  find  out  their  dates?  How  many  partial  collections  of 
Psalms  do  we  know  of  ?  Can  you  point  them  out  in  the  Bible?  What  do 
you  find  at  the  end  of  each  book?  Will  you  read  these  doxologies?  Do 
they  belong  to  the  Psalms  themselves?  [No;  they  were  appended  by  the 
editors.]  About  what  time  were  all  the  Psalms  gathered  into  one  book? 
What  do  we  find  in  the  Greek  version  that  is  not  in  the  Hebrew  and  English? 

1.  With  what  did  the  Israelitish  philosophy  deal?  How  did  the  sages 
give  their  instruction?  Why?  In  what  chapters  of  Proverbs  do  we  find 
such  sayings?  Which  chapters  contain  more  connected  discourses?  Can 
you  show  this  by  referring  to  the  book?  What  may  be  said  of  the  moral  and 
religious  value  of  these  Proverbs?  Do  we  know  exactly  when  they  were 
composed  and  collected?  In  whose  time  were  some  of  them  said  to  be 
gathered?  Can  you  read  the  passage  that  states  this?  To  whom  are  most 


108  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

of  them  ascribed?  What  may  Solomon  have  done?  Were  parts  of  this 
book  probably  composed  late?  About  what  time  was  the  whole  probably 
collected? 

3.  Were  the  Jews  disposed  to  write  such  books  at  this  time?    What  did 
a  certain  Jesus  do?    About  when  did  his  grandson  edit  his  work?     What  is 
this  work  called?    What  book  is  it  like?    Does  it  also  differ  from  Proverbs? 
Wherein  is  it  distinctively  Jewish?    To  what  does  it  confine  itself?    Does 
Proverbs  also  do  this?    To  what  customs  does  it  allude?    Has  it  much  val- 
uable ethical  instruction?    What  is  the  common  abbreviation  of  the  name? 

4.  What  other  book  of  the  same  nature  was  written  about  this  time? 
What  is  it?    In  how  many  respects  does  it  differ  from  the  Son  of  Sirach's 
book?    What  is.  the  first  of  these?    Where  was  the  book  written?    How 
does  it  speak  of  Wisdom  ?     What  is  its  second  difference  from  the  Son 
of  Sirach?     Is  immortality  clearly  taught  in  the  Old  Testament  except  in 
the  book  of  Daniel?    How  is  Sheol  or  Hades  described?    What  does  this 
book  say?    Can  you  turn  to  the  passage  and  read  it?    How  did  Israel  come 
to  a  knowledge  of  immortality?  Are  these  two  books,  Ecclesiasticus  and  the 
Wisdom  of  Solomon,  contained  in  the  Hebrew  and  English  Old  Testament? 
[No.] 

5.  What  is  the  most  remarkable  of  this  class  of  works?    Of  what  is  it  a 
discussion?    Put  into  whose  mouth?     According  to  what  custom?    Does  it 
speak  of  a  future  life  ?   How  does  it  speak  of  this  life?    What  does  the  author 
expect  from  human  effort?    What  does  he  say  of  money,  power,  wisdom, 
and  all  things?    What  does  he  think  the  best  thing  to  do?     How  does  he 
say  we  are  to  enjoy  ourselves?    Is  this  a  good  philosophy?    Like  what  word 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  it  ?    How  does  it  differ  from  the  teaching  of   Jesus  ? 
What  is  the  probable  date  of  the  book? 

6.  For  what  purpose  was  the  Song  of  Songs  apparently  composed?     Was 
it  written  by  Solomon  ?     [No.]     To  what  period  does  it  seem  to  belong  ? 
How  has  it  usually  been  treated?    What  is  an  allegory  ? 


LESSON    XXII. 

LATER  LITERATURE.     2.    APOCALYPTIC. 
3.    PHILOSOPHICAL  AND  HISTORICAL. 

Character  of  the  Apocalyptic  Literature.  —  We  come 
now  to  an  entirely  new  species  of  literature,  —  the  works  which 
purported  to  give  an  apocalypse  or  revelation  of  the  ultimate 
future.  The  prophets  had  spoken  of  the  future,  but  only  in 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  109 

general  terms.  The  groundwork  of  their  predictions  was  ethical 
and  religious ;  they  simply  declared  that  Israel  should  dwell  in 
peace,  obedient  to  the  law  of  the  holy  Yahwe ;  their  promises  of 
coming  prosperity  were  broad,  trustful  inferences  from  the 
faithfulness  of  their  God.  But  now  the  prophetic  inspiration 
had  vanished  (Ps.  Ixxiv.  9).  Grievous  times  had  come  upon 
Israel.  The  mighty  nations  of  the  world  seemed  to  be  pressing 
them  to  destruction.  What  had  become,  they  asked,  of  the 
ancient  promises  of  blessing?  Had  the  Lord  forgotten  his 
people  ?  Under  these  circumstances,  while  some  pious  people 
took  refuge  in  prayer  and  devotion  to  the  law,  others  sought  to 
encourage  themselves  and  their  countrymen  by  painting  brilliant 
pictures  of  the  future.  Usually  they  went  back  and  gave  a 
sketch  of  the  history  of  the  world,  which  they  represented  as 
grouped  around  Israel  as  the  centre.  The  visions  were  repre- 
sented as  appearing  to  some  ancient  seer.  They  are  precise  and 
distinct  up  to  the  time  of  the  writer,  and  then  become  general 
and  vague.  We  shall  here  mention  four  of  these  books:  Daniel, 
the  Sibyl,  Enoch,  and  Ezra. 

1.  Daniel.  —  About  the  year  164  B.C.,  just  before  the  death 
of  Antiochus  Epiphanes  (Lesson  XX.),  an  unknown  writer,  who 
was  well  acquainted  with  Babylonian  affairs,  undertook  to  com- 
fort his  people  in  the  gloomy  condition  of  things  that  then 
existed.  He  supposed  a  seer  named  Daniel,  living  in  Babylon 
during  the  Exile,  to  have  a  series  of  visions  setting  forth  the 
history  of  the  world  from  the  time  of  the  Babylonian  empire 
(Nebuchadnezzar)  to  the  end  of  things.  He  sees  four  kingdoms 
successively  arise;  these  are  the  Babylonian,  the  Median,  the 
Persian,  and  the  Grecian,  and  under  the  last  the  Syrian  (especially 
Autiochus)  is  particularly  spoken  of.  Of  these,  the  first  is  de- 
stroyed by  the  second,  the  second  by  the  third,  the  third  by  the 
fourth,  and  the  fourth  by  the  kingdom  of  God,  that  is,  Israel. 
Chapters  ii.  and  vii.  give  the  four  kingdoms;  chapters  viii.,  ix., 
and  xi.  describe  Syria  especially.  The  book  (written  partly 
in  Hebrew,  and  partly  in  Aramaic)  has  an  elevated  religious 
tone.  It  shows,  also,  an  advance  in  dogma.  It  contains  the 
first  distinct  system  of  angels  found  in  the  Old  Testament;  it 
represents  the  various  nations  as  having  guardian  angels  (x.  13, 


110  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

20,  21).  It  has  also  the  first  mention  of  the  resurrection  (xii. 
1-3),  a  doctrine  that  seems  to  have  been  developed  among  the 
Jews  under  foreign  influence.  Israel  added  to  its  stores  from  all 
quarters.  The  Septuagint  contains  three  additions  to  the 
Hebrew  book:  the  story  of  Susanna,  the  prayer  of  Azariah  and 
the  Hymn  of  the  three  princes,  and  the  stories  of  Bel  and  the 
Dragon. 

2.  The  Sibyl. — The  ancients  gave  the  name  Sibyl  to  certain 
prophetesses  who  were  supposed  to  predict  the  history  of  nations. 
There  exists  a  collection  of  predictions  of  this  sort  (Sibylline 
Oracles),  written  by  various  authors,  Jews  and  Christians,  at 
different  times,  during  a  period  of  several  centuries.     A  part 
seems  to  have  been  composed  not  long  after  the  book  of  Daniel. 
This  describes  the  victory  of  the  worship  of  the  true  God  over 
idolatry,  the  destruction  of  the  wicked  at  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah,  the  conversion  of  the  nations  to  the  service  of  the  God 
of  Israel,  and  the  blessedness  of  Judah.     In  it  we  find  the  first 
clear  statement  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Messiah.     The  prophets 
had  spoken  of  a  king  or  a  dynasty  under  whom  Israel  would  be 
prosperous;   Daniel  speaks  of  a  glorious  person  like  a  Son  of 
Man  (a  representation  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  vii.  13, 
22),  to  whom  everlasting  dominion  was  to  be  given;   and  the 
Sibyl  represents  the  deliverer  of  Israel  as  a  distinct  person  sent 
and  commissioned  by  God  to  give  victory  to  his  people.     And 
this  idea  of  a  Messiah  or  Christ  (that  is,  an  anointed  one)  was 
in  existence  when  the  true  Messiah  came  and  pointed  Israel  not 
to  military  glory,  but  to  loving  obedience  to  God.     It  is  not  im- 
probable  that   the   famous   description   of  the   golden   age   in 
Vergil's  Fourth  Eclogue  was  suggested  by  the  Jewish  Sibyl. 

3.  Enoch.  —  The  greater  part  of  the  book   of  Enoch  was 
written  in  the  second  and  first  centuries  before  Christ.     It  rep- 
resents the  old  patriarch  Enoch  (Gen.  v.  24)  as  having  had  a 
series  of  visions  in  which  the  corning  judgment  of  the  world  was 
disclosed  to   him.      It   speaks  more  distinctly  than  Daniel  of 
angels,  of  the  Messiah,  and  of  the  last  times  of  the  world.     It 
was  much  valued  in  the  early  centuries  of  our  era,  and  is  quoted 
in  the  New  Testament  book  of  Jude,  verses  14,  15.     Additions 
were  perhaps  made  to  it  by  Christian  writers. 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  Ill 

4.  Ezra. —  To  fill  out  the  series  we  may  add  a  work  which 
treats  of  the  history  of  Israel,  but  was  written  or  completed  by 
a  Christian  in  the  first  century  of  our  era.     The  visions,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  seen  by  the  scribe  Ezra,  predict  the  overthrow 
of  the  nations  and  the  triumph  of  the  righteous.     There  is  a 
story  of  Ezra's  having  been  inspired  to  write  out  the  whole  of 
the  sacred  books,  they  having  been  lost  (xiv.  37-48).     The  book 
is  called  Fourth  or  Second  Ezra  (or,  in  the  Greek  form,  Esdras). 

5.  Other  Works.  —  Various  other  works  produced   during 
this  period  attest  the  literary  activity  of  the  Jews.     We  can 
only  mention  the  most  important.     1.  Poetical  and  philosophic. 
In  Alexandria  the  Jews  caught  the  literary  spirit  of  the  Greeks 
and  wrote  poetry  and  philosophy;  that  is,  they  tried  to  treat  the 
material  of  their  sacred  books  according  to  Greek  methods.    A 
certain  Ezekiel  composed  a  tragedy  on  the  deliverance  of  Israel 
from  Egypt,  piarts  of  which  are  preserved  in  the  works  of  the 
Church  Father,  Eusebius.    Aristobulus  discussed  the  Pentateuch 
philosophically    (see    Eusebius    and   Clement   of    Alexandria). 
The  ethical  poem  contained  in  the  Sibylline  Oracles,  which  was 
formerly  ascribed  to  a  Greek,   Phocylides,  is   also  by  a  Jew. 
These  attempts  were  foreign  to  the  Jewish  spirit  and  had  little 
success  (see  on  Philo  later).     2.   An  unknown  writer  composed 
a  book  in  imitation  of  the  ancient  prophets,  and  ascribed  it  to 
Baruch,  the  secretary  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah.     Another,  also 
unknown,   wrote  a  letter,  purporting  to  be  addressed   by  the 
prophet   Jeremiah    to   the   exiles   in    Babylon,   warning  them 
against  idolatry.     The  dates  are  uncertain.    3.  Historical.     The 
First  Book  of  Maccabees  is  a  history  of  the  war  of  freedom  from 
its  outbreak  to  the  death  of  Simon,  the  brother  of  Judas.     It 
was  composed  not  long  after  the  war,  and  is  generally  reliable. 
The  Second  Book  of  Maccabees  is  less  trustworthy.     It  begins 
the  history  farther  back,  in  the  time  of  the  high-priest  Onias, 
and  comes  down  to  the  year  before  the  death  of  Judas  Macca- 
hseus   (B.C.   161).      It  was  written  some  time  after  the  First 
Book,  and  is  designed  to  defend  Jewish  religious  ideas.     See 
the  beautiful  story  of  the  seven  brothers  in  chapter  iv. 

The  Third  Book  of  Ezra  (or  Esdras)  begins  with  King  Josiah 
and  the  destruction  of  the  temple  by  the  Chaldeans,  and  then 


112  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE 

goes  over  about  the  same,  ground  as  the  Old  Testament  books 
of  Ezra  and  K"ehemiah.  Its  author  probably  did  not  regard 
these  books  as  canonical.  It  is  called  Third  Ezra  because 
Nehemiah  is  sometimes  called  Second  Ezra.  4.  Historical 
romances.  The  books  of  Tobit  and  Judith  are  tales  designed 
to  impress  moral  and  religious  lessons.  Tobit  describes  the 
fortunes  of  a  pious  Jewish  family  among  the  exiles  in  Nineveh. 
Judith  tells  how  a  pious  and  brave  woman  delivered  her  people 
from  an  invading  army.  Neither  has  any  value  as  history. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On    Daniel :    commentaries    of    Hitzig    ("  Kurzgefasstes 
Exegetisches    Handbuch ")    and    Kranichfeld,    Berlin,    1868; 
44  Speaker's  Commentary;"   Lenormant,  "La  Divination  chez 
les  Chaldeens ;  "  articles   in   Herzog,    Schenkel,   Encyclopedia 
Britannica;  Noyes. 

2.  On  the  Sibyl:  editions  of  Friedlieb  and  Alexandre. 

3.  On  Enoch:  English  translations,  Lawrence,  Oxford,  1833, 
and  Schodde,  uThe  Book  of  Enoch,"  Andover,  1882;  German 
translation,  Dillmann,  Leipzig,  1853;  French  translation,  Migne, 
"  Dictionnaire  des  Apocryphes." 

4.  On  Fourth  Ezra  and  the  other  Apocalyptic  books:  Hilgen- 
feld,  "  Judische  Apokalyptik. " 

5.  On  Ezekiel,  and  other  poets:   Delitzsch,  u  Geschichte  der 
Jiidischen  Poesie." 

6.  On  Baruch,  Maccabees,  Third  Ezra,  Tobit,  Judith:  Grimm 
and  Fritzsche  on  the  Apocrypha  ("  Kurzgefasstes  Exegetisches 
Handbuch  ")  and  Lange. 

QUESTIONS. 

To  what  species  of  literature  do  we  now  come?  How  did  the  prophets 
speak  of  the  future  ?  What  was  the  groundwork  of  their  predictions  ? 
From  what  were  their  promises  inferences?  In  these  grievous  times  did  the 
prophetic  inspiration  still  exist?  What  Psalm  speaks  of  this?  What  did 
the  people  ask?  In  what  did  some  pious  men  take  refuge?  What  did  others 
seek  to  do  ?  How  did  they  represent  the  history  of  the  world  ?  To  whom 
were  the  visions  represented  as  appearing?  When  are  they  precise,  and 
when  are  they  vague?  What  four  books  are  here  mentioned? 

1.  In  the  year  164  B.C.,  what  did  an  unknown  writer  undertake  to  do? 
What  did  he  suppose?  How  many  kingdoms  does  Daniel  see?  What  are 
they?  How  are  these  destroyed?  Can  you  point  out  the  visions  in  the 


RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL.  113 

Bible?  What  fe  the  tone  of  the  book?  Does  it  show  a  dogma  or  teaching 
that  earlier  books  have  not?  What  does  it  say  of  angels?  What  of  the 
resurrection?  Whence  did  the  Jews  probably  get  this  doctrine? 

2.  What  does  Sibyl  mean?    What  book  of  this  sort  have  we?  By  whom 
written?     When  was  the  Jewish  part  composed?     What  does  it  describe? 
What  do  we  find  in  it?    Of  what  had  the  prophets  spoken?     Of  what  does 
Daniel  speak?    What  representation  does  the  Sibyl  give?     Was  the  idea  of 
a  Messiah  in  existence  among  the  Jews  when  Jesus  of  Nazareth  came?     To 
what  did  he  point  Israel? 

3.  When  was  the  book  of  Enoch  written?   What  does  it  represent  Enoch 
as  having  had?    Of  what  does  it  speak  more  distinctly  than  Daniel?     When 
was  it  much  valued?    Where  is  it  quoted?    Can  you  read  the  passage?    By 
whom  were  additions  made  to  it? 

4.  When  was  Fourth  Ezra  written  or  completed?    By  whom?    What  do 
the  visions  predict?    What  story  does  the  book  contain? 

5  What  spirit  did  the  Jews  catch  in  Alexandria?  Have  parts  of  their 
poetry  and  philosophy  been  preserved?  Did  these  attempts  of  theirs  have 
much  success?  Why  not?  What  is  the  book  of  Baruch?  What  three  his- 
torical books  do  we  find?  Of  what  is  First  Maccabees  a  history?  Is  it 
generally  reliable?  Is  Second  Maccabees  equally  trustworthy?  What  is 
its  design?  What  beautiful  story  does  it  contain?  Have  you  ever  read  the 
story?  What  ground  does  Third  Ezra  cover?  Why  is  it  so  called?  What 
is  the  Greek  form  of  the  name  Ezra?  Why  is  the  book  sometimes  called 
First  Esdras?  What  is  the  design  of  the  books  of  Tobit  and  Judith?  What 
does  Tobit  describe?  What  does  Judith  tell? 


LESSON    XXIII. 

THE  CANON. 

1.  Definition  of  Canon.  —  The  word  Canon  is  taken  from 
the  Greek,  and  means  first  a  "  reed,"  and  then  a  "  rule  "  by 
which  things  are  measured.  Thus  it  came  to  signify  those 
writings  which  were  conformed  to  the  rule  or  measure  of  in- 
spiration; it  is  equivalent  to  "  a  collection  of  sacred  books,"  — 
books  believed  to  have  been  given  by  divine  inspiration.  When 
a  book  is  declared  by  the  proper  authority  among  a  people  to 
belong  to  the  sacred  collection,  it  is  said  to  be  "  canonized,"  and 
is  called  a  "  canonical "  book.  Not  a  few  of  the  Asiatic  nations 
had  such  sacred  collections  ;  they  were  those  nations  in  whom 

8 


114  THE    HISTORY    OP    THE 

the  consciousness  of  the  divine  power  and  government  was 
strong.  Among  them  were  the  Assyrians,  the  Hindus,  and  the 
Persians;  in  later  times  the  Arabs  had  (and  still  have)  their 
Koran.  But  no  ancient  people  had  so  precise  a  notion  of  a 
canon  as  the  Jews,  because  to  no  other  people  was  God  so  deep 
a  reality.  The  Jewish  Canon  is  the  Old  Testament;  we  must 
now  ask  how  its  books  were  collected.  The  New  Testament  is 
the  Christian  Canon.  The  word  "  testament "  is  an  incorrect 
translation  of  a  Greek  word  which  properly  means  "  covenant." 
The  "  Old  Covenant"  is  God's  covenantor  agreement  with 
Israel,  whereby  he  promises  them  his  favor;  the  "  New  Cove- 
nant "  is  his  pledge  of  favor  through  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  The  Time  before  Ezra.  —  We  have  already  seen  that  a 
large  part  of  our  Old  Testament  was  written  before  Ezra's  time 
(B.C.  450).  All  the  prophetic  writings,  the  books  of  Samuel, 
Judges,  and  Kings,  Deuteronomy,  a  good  many  of  the  Psalms 
and  Proverbs,  and  perhaps  other  works,  came  into  existence  dur- 
ing this  period.  But  the  Israelites  then  had  no  idea  of  a  body 
of  sacred  writings.  These  books  were  no  doubt  circulated  and 
read  to  some  extent,  particularly  by  the  priests  and  prophets, 
and  were  valued  as  words  of  Yahwe,  or  as  helpful  to  religious 
life.  But  there  was  no  attempt  to  make  a  separation  among 
the  various  books  that  were  written,  and  to  declare  some  to  be 
sacred  and  authoritative.  We  know  that  other  books,  besides 
those  in  our  Old  Testament,  were  then  composed  and  are  now 
lost.  Time  sifted  these  works,  and  only  the  more  important 
were  preserved.  Gradually,  as  the  ideas  of  religion  among  the 
Israelites  became  distincter,  and  as  their  hopes  of  political  suc- 
cess became  dimmer,  their  attention  was  fixed  on  the  books  that 
related  to  religion,  and  they  began  to  study  them  more.  The 
old  prophetic  spontaneousness  died  out  soon  after  the  return 
from  exile,  and  the  people  lived  more  and  more  in  the  past,  and 
therefore  in  the  books  which  rested  the  present  on  the  authority 
of  the  past. 

3.    The   Pentateuch.  —  Naturally,  the   first  thing  to  which 
attention  was  directed  was   the   Law.     During  the   Exile   the 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  115 

leaders  of  the  people  came  to  feel  that  it  was  this  that  most 
separated  Israel  from  the  other  nations,  and  constituted  its  true 
life.  The  Babylonian  Jews  had  devoted  much  time  to  collect- 
ing and  completing  the  regulations  concerning  public  worship 
and  civil  life.  At  that  time  no  distinction  was  made  between 
civil  and  religious  law,  for  did  not  Yahwe,  the  God  of  Israel, 
order  the  whole  conduct  of  his  people,  whether  in  their  duty  to 
him  or  to  one  another  V  The  lawyers  were  also  the  theologians. 
Along  with  the  law  the  traditions  concerning  the  Hebrew  ances- 
tors and  the  first  ages  of  the  world  were  collected.  By  succes- 
sive editors  all  this  material  was  at  last  brought  together  and 
shaped  into  one  book,  our  Pentateuch.  When  and  by  whom 
the  present  division  of  this  work  into  five  books  was  made,  we 
do  not  know.  It  had  already  been  done  when  the  Greek  trans- 
lation was  made,  about  B.C.  275.  Sometimes  the  book  of  Joshua 
was  added,  and  then  the  whole  was  called  the  Hexateuch  (that 
is,  the  sixfold  book).  About  Ezra's  time  the  most  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch had  been  formed  into  a  book.  He  was  deeply  convinced 
that  this  book  should  be  made  the  nation's  rule  of  life.  He 
came  from  Babylon  to  Jerusalem  to  press  this  fact  on  the  people. 
His  efforts,  seconded  by  those  of  Nehemiah,  were  successful. 
He  began  the  work,  and  after  a  while  the  whole  people  felt  that 
the  book  of  the  Law  was  that  which  God  had  given  them  to  be 
the  guide  of  their  life.  So  the  Pentateuch,  which  contained 
the  Tora  or  Law,  became  a  canonical  book. 

4.  The  Prophetical  Books.  —  For  some  time  the  Penta- 
teuch constituted  the  whole  Canon.  Then,  as  the  people 
continued  to  study  their  past  history,  the  words  of  the  prophets,, 
who  spoke  to  them  of  Yahwe's  threatenings  and  promises, 
seemed  to  them  more  and  more  important.  These  also,  they 
said,  are  words  of  God  to  Israel.  And  as  the  historical  books 
described  Yahwe's  dealing  with  his  people,  and  were  written  by 
prophetic  men,  these  also  were  included  in  the  same  category. 
Thus  a  second  canon  was  formed,  the  prophetical.  The  books 
of  Judges,  Samuel,  and  Kings  were  called  the  Former  Prophets, 
and  the  prophetic  books  proper  the  Latter  Prophets.  The  works 
of  the  prophets  were  edited  or  collected,  not  always  carefully, 


116  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

Anonymous  writings  were  put  into  the  same  manuscript  with 
some  known  prophet,  and  after  a  while  came  to  be  regarded  as 
his.  Thus  the  prophecy,  Is.  xl.-lxvi.,  is  included  in  the  same 
book  with  the  Isaiah  of  Hezekiah's  time,  though  it  was  written 
during  the  Exile;  andZech.  ix.-xi.  and  xii.-xiv.  are  appended  to 
Zechariah's  writings,  though  they  do  not  belong  to  him.  The 
Prophets  thus  became  canonical,  but  were  not  thought  so  author- 
itative as  the  Pentateuch. 

5.  The    Hagiographa.  —  The  Law  and  the  Prophets  for  a 
long  time  formed  the  Canon.     Down  to  New  Testament  times 
the  expression  "  the  law  and  the  prophets  "  was  even  used  for 
the  whole  Old  Testament;  see  Matt.  v.  17,  Luke  xxiv.  27,  Rom. 
iii.  21.     But  other  religious  books  were  written  after  the  pro- 
phetic canon  was  formed.     There  were  the  Psalms,  Job,  Ezra, 
and  the  other  books,  which  you  can  find  for  yourselves  in  the 
Old  Testament.     After  a  while,  towards  the  close  of  the  second 
century  before  Christ,  these  were  gathered  into  a  third  partial 
canon.     They   were    called    by  the  Palestinian   Jews   simply 
Writings  (ketubim),  and  by  the   Greek-speaking  Jews  Sacred 
Writings  (hagiographa).     But  there  was  not  perfect  agreement 
among  the   learned  Jews   as   to  all  of  them.     The  canonical 
authority  of   Ezekiel,  Ecclesiastes,  and  the  Song  of  Songs  was 
still  in  dispute  after  the  death  of  the  Apostle  Paul ;  but  they 
were  finally  accepted  by  the   Sanhedrin.     The  third  class   of 
writings  was  not  valued  so  highly  as  the  other  two.     The  He- 
brew Bible  arranges  the  books  by  the  three  canons  or  collec- 
tions: the  Pentateuch,  the  Prophets,  the  Writings.     The  Greek 
and  Latin  versions  changed  the  order,  and  our  Bible  follows 
them. 

6.  The  Alexandrian  Canon.  —  What  we  have  been  saying 
refers  to  the  Palestinian  Jews.     The  Jews  who  lived  in  Egypt 
admitted  into  their  Canon  a  number  of  other  books ;  it  is  they 
that  are  called  the  Apocrypha;    you  will  find  them  printed  in 
some  copies  of  the  Bible.     They  are  First  and  Second  Ezra, 
Tobit,  Judith,  Additions  to  Esther,  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  Ecclesi- 
Asticus,  Baruch,  Epistle  of  Jeremiah,  Additions  to  Daniel,  Prayer 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  117 

of  Manasseh,  First  and  Second  Maccabees.  On  these  see  the 
preceding  Lesson.  All  of  these  are  instructive  and  worthy  of 
study.  They  were  never  received  as  canonical  by  the  Palestinian 
Jews,  because  they  were  not  believed  to  be  written  by  authorita- 
tive men.  Catholics  now  accept  them  as  canonical,  and  most 
Protestants  reject  them.  Each  of  them  must  be  judged  on  its 
own  merits. 

7.  The  Samaritan  Canon.  —  The  Samaritans  had  adopted 
the  Israelitish  worship,  but  they  withdrew  from  religious  fellow- 
ship with  the  Jews  soon  after  the  Pentateuch  was  made  canoni- 
cal, and  before  the  prophetical  and  other  writings  had  been 
included  in  the  Canon.  They  therefore  held  to  the  Pentateuch 
alone  as  sacred. 

LITERATURE. 

On  the  Canon:  articles  in  Herzog,  Schenkel,  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica;  books  of  Introduction;  Julius  Fuerst,  u  Der  Kanon 
des  Alten  Testaments,"  &c.,  Leipzig,  1868;  Samuel  Davidson, 
"  The  Canon  of  the  Bible,"  London,  1877. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  does  the  word  canon  mean?    What  did  it  come  to  signify?    To 
what  is  it  equivalent?     When  is  a  book  said  to  be  canonized,  and  called  can- 
onical?   What  ancient  nations  besides  the  Jews  had  canons?    What  sacred 
book  have  the  Arabs  and  other  Mohammedans  now?    Why  did  the  Jews 
have  a  preciser  notion  of  a  canon  than  other  ancient  peoples?    What  is  the 
Jewish  Canon  ?    What  is  the  Christian  Canon  ?    Whence  comes  the  word 
Testament?    What  is  the  Old  Covenant  ?  —  the  New  Covenant  ? 

2.  Were  many  books  of  the  Old  Testament  written  before  the  time  of 
Ezra  ?    Which  ?     Had  the  Israelites  at  that  time  the  idea  of  a  body  of 
sacred  writings  ?     Were  these  books  circulated  and  read  ?      By  whom  ? 
What  was  not  attempted  ?    Were  other  books  then  composed,  besides  those 
that  we  have  ?    What  became  of  them  ?    In  what  proportion  was  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Jews  fixed  on  their  religious  books  ?     When  did  the  prophetic 
spontaneousness  die  out  ?    In  what  did  the  people  then  live  more  and  more  ? 

3.  What  was  the  first  thing  to  which  attention  was  directed?     What  did 
the  leaders  of  the  people  come  to  feel  during  the  Exile?     To  what  did  the 
Babylonian  Jews  devote  much  time  ?    Was  a  distinction  then  made  between 
civil  and  religious  law  ?    Why  not  ?    Besides  the  law  what  traditions  were 
then  collected  ?    Into  what  book  was  all  this  material  shaped  ?    Do  we  know 
when  the  present  division  into  five  parts  or  books  was  made  ?    At  what 


118  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

time  had  it  been  already  done  ?  When  the  book  of  Joshua  was  added,  what 
was  the  whole  called?  In  whose  time  had  most  of  the  Pentateuch  been 
formed  into  a  book?  Of  what  was  he  convinced?  For  what  purpose  did 
he  come  from  Babylon  ?  Were  his  efforts  successful  ?  What  did  the  people 
after  a  while  feel  ?  What  did  the  Pentateuch  thus  become  ? 

4.  What  constituted  the  Canon  for  some  time  ?    As  time  went  on,  what 
books  seemed  to  the  Jews  more  and  more  important  ?    What  other  books 
were  included  in  the  same  category  with  the  discourses  of  the  prophets  ? 
Why  V     What  second  canon  was  thus  formed  ?    What  were  the  historical 
books  called  ?     What  were  the  prophetic  discourses  called  ?     Were  the  pro- 
phetic writings  always  carefully  collected ?     Can  you  give  two  examples? 
Was  the  prophetic  canon  regarded  as  equal  in  authority  to  the  legal  (the 
Pentateuch)  ? 

5.  Did  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  long  constitute  the  Canon  ?    Can  you 
turn  to  New  Testament  passages  in  which  this  expression  is  used  for  the 
whole  Old  Testament  ?    Were  other  religious  books  written  after  the  pro- 
phetic canon  was  formed  ?     Can  you  mention  them  ?     When  were  they 
gathered  into  a  third  canon  ?     What  were  they  called  by  the  Palestinian 
Jews  ?  —  by  the  Greek-speaking  Jews?     Was  there  perfect  agreement  con- 
cerning them  among  the  Jewish  doctors  ?    How  late  were  there  disputes 
about  certain  books  ?     Was  this  third  part  of  the  Canon  so  highly  valued  as 
the  others  ?     What  is  the  order  of  books  in  the  Hebrew  Bible  ?     Whence 
combes  the  order  in  our  English  Bible  ? 

6.  Did  the  Egyptian  Jews  admit  into  their  Canon  books  that  the  Pales- 
tinian Jews   rejected  ?    What  are  they  called  ?    Can  you  mention  them  ? 
Are  they  all  worthy  of  study  ?     [They  all  throw  light  on  the  religious  and 
other  ideas  of  their  time.]     Why  were  they  not  received  as  canonical  by 
the  Palestinian  Jews  ?     What  Christians  accept  them  ?    Who  reject  them  ? 
How  must  they  be  judged  ? 

7.  When  did  the  Samaritans  withdraw  from  religious  fellowship  with  the 
Jews  ?    What  book  alone  did  they  look  on  as  canonical  ?    Why  ? 


LESSON    XXIV. 

THE  SCRIBES. 

1.  The  Study  of  the  Law.  —  While  the  sacred  books  were 
being  collected,  the  religion  of  Israel  was  undergoing  a  modifi- 
cation, and  entering  on  what  has  turned  out  to  be  its  last  stage 


KELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  119 

of  development;  this  is  what  is  called  the  scribal  period.  The 
prophets  had  labored  several  hundred  years  to  make  Yah  we 's 
righteousness  a  part  of  the  people's  living  religious  faith;  and 
by  the  end  of  the  Exile  the  nation  had,  largely  through  them, 
accepted  monotheism.  After  the  Exile  Israel  was  divided  into 
two  parts,  one  in  Babylon,  the  other  in  Palestine;  both  devoted 
themselves  to  the  completion  of  their  ritual  law,  and  each  be- 
came in  a  sense  a  church,  or  both  together  formed  a  church, 
that  is,  a  community  organized  on  a  purely  religious  basis. 
They  had  the  spiritual  fundamentals  of  religion,  namely,  a  holy 
God  and  obligation  to  live  in  communion  of  soul  with  him. 
Next,  therefore,  they  set  themselves  to  work  out  the  rules  of 
outward  service;  they  came  under  the  direction  of  the  priests. 
This  is  what  happened  to  Christianity  also  from  the  third  cen- 
tury to  the  fifteenth.  This  was  a  real  advance  in  religion ;  it 
was,  indeed,  a  necessity  for  that  stage  of  the  world's  religious 
growth.  For  all  men  require  rules,  more  or  less  according  to 
their  spiritual  maturity.  Israel  was  growing  in  ethical- religious 
fixedness,  was  acquiring  greater  spiritual  stamina,  and  em- 
bodied-its feeling  in  regulations  for  the  ordering  of  life.  The 
priests  did  a  part  of  this  work,  and  the  scribes  completed  it. 
They  took  the  Law  and  made  it  into  a  code  for  the  determina- 
tion of  man's  conduct  every  day  and  every  hour.  They  thus 
did  harm,  indeed,  as  well  as  good;  but  they  furnished  the 
world  with  what  it  needed  at  that  time. 

2.   Formation    of  the    Class    of   Scribes.  —  The  Law  was 

completed  and  introduced  by  Ezra  and  his  friends,  and  thence- 
forward became  the  chief  study  of  Israel.  When  it  came  to  be 
put  into  practice,  many  points  needed  explanation.  Occasions 
presented  themselves  not  contemplated  by  the  framers  of  the 
code,  and  it  was  necessary  to  adapt  the  written  regulations  to 
these.  Hence  there  arose  a  class  of  students  of  the  law. 

As  printing  was  then  unknown,  all  books  had  to  be  written 
out  with  the  hand.  This  process  was  not  only  laborious,  but 
required  great  carefulness  in  the  writer,  and  knowledge  of  the 
subject-matter  of  the  book ;  an  ignorant  copyist  would  be  likely 


120  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

to  make  mistakes  which,  in  an  important  work,  would  be  incon- 
venient and  injurious.  Thus  the  writers  or  scribes  were  com- 
monly men  learned  in  the  ritual  code,  and  so  the  word  a  scribe  " 
came  naturally  to  signify  a  learned  legalist  or  lawyer.  After  a 
while  such  men  included  the  prophets  and  the  other  writings, 
as  well  as  the  law,  in  their  study.  Precise  rules  were  made  for 
those  who  copied  the  manuscripts.  They  had  to  prepare  them- 
selves for  the  work  by  washing  and  prayer;  the  words  of  the 
Pentateuch  and  the  other  books  were  counted,  so  that  not  one 
should  be  omitted;  and  other  precautions  were  taken  against 
error.  In  this  way  the  later  manuscripts  were  made  very  accu- 
rate, though  at  first  they  doubtless  contained  mistakes.  None 
of  the  manuscripts  written  before  the  beginning  of  our  era  have 
survived.  After  Ezra's  time,  when  the  people  felt  an 

increasing  interest  in  their  sacred  books,  and,  being  scattered 
through  the  country,  could  not  easily  go  up  frequently  to  Jeru- 
salem to  worship,  religious  exercises  began  to  be  held  at  various 
places  on  the  sabbath-day.  A  part  of  the  Law  would  be  read 
and  some  explanation  of  it  given.  These  assemblages  were 
called  synagogues  (which  means  "  assemblages  "),  and  the  same 
name  was  given  to  the  buildings  in  which  they  were  held.  After 
the  prophetic  canon  was  collected,  selections  from  it  also  were 
read  in  these  weekly  meetings,  and  afterwards  parts  of  the  other 
books  on  certain  occasions.  The  later  usage  required  the  pres- 
ence of  ten  men  to  constitute  a  synagogue.  The  Phari- 
sees, who  were  devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  the  national  life, 
naturally  became  advocates  of  the  study  of  the  law  and  of  the 
oral  explanations  of  it  which  the  expounders  used  to  give  in 
the  synagogues  and  elsewhere.  They  would  thus  be  associated 
with  the  scribes;  and  in  the  Gospels  the  phrase  "scribes  and 
Pharisees  "  is  often  used  to  denote  the  advocates  of  the  oral 
tradition.  The  difference  between  them  is  this:  "  scribe  "  de- 
notes a  profession  or  calling,  like  our  "  lawyer  "  or  "  theologian;  " 
"Pharisees"  means  a  party,  like  our  terms  "orthodox"  or 
"high-church."  A  scribe  might  be  a  Pharisee  or  a  Sadducee; 
most  of  them  seem  to  have  been  Pharisees.  But  not  all  Phari- 
sees were  scribes;  we  may  say,  speaking  generally,  that  a  scribe 
was  a  learned  Pharisee. 


RELIGION    OF    ISRAEL.  121 

3.  Schools    and    Teachers.  —  At  various   times   eminent 
teachers  of   the  law  gathered   their  pupils   around   them   and 
formed  schools ;  but  we  know  little  of  them  till  shortly  before 
the  beginning  of  our  era.     According  to  the  later  Jewish  tradi- 
tion, Ezra  and  the  distinguished  men  of  his  time  established 
the   Great   Synagogue,  which  continued   about  150  years,  and 
settled  the  Canon ;   but  there  is  no  ground  for  this  statement. 
We  have  records,  however,  of  several  teachers,  of  whom  short 
sayings  are  reported.     These  teachers  generally  taught  in  pairs. 
The  most  important  of  these  pairs  was  the  one  composed  of  Hillel 
and  Shammai,  who  flourished  about  50  B.C.     Shammai  insisted 
on  a  strict  construction  of    the  law,  while  Hillel  favored  the 
broadest  interpretation  of  the  rules,  and  his   principles  finally 
prevailed.     He  is  the  greatest  legal  scholar  and  reformer  of  this 
period.     He  framed  a  set  of  rules  of  interpretation,  which  the 
Jews  have  held  to  ever  since.     There  had  grown  up  a  great 
mass  of  traditions  relating  to  the   Scriptures,  and  he  arranged 
these  in  six  divisions  or  orders   (see  on  the  Talmud,  Lesson 
XXVI.).      His    grandson   was   Gamaliel,   the   Apostle   Paul's 
teacher  (Acts  v.  34,  xxii.  3).     Hillel  was  born  and  brought  up 
in  Babylonia.     A  saying  is  ascribed  to  him  very  much  like  the 
Golden  Rule  of  Christ  :    "  Do  not  to  another  what  you  would 
not  like  to  be  done  to  yourself  "  (see  Matt.  vii.  12). 

4.  The   Sanhedrin.  —  The  Jews  had  numerous  local  courts 
for  the  decision  of  questions  of  law.     After  a  while  they  made 
a  Supreme  court  which  they  called  the  Sanhedrin  (this  is  the 
Greek  word  nynedrion,  and  means  a  body  of  men  sitting  to- 
gether; a  Council),     We  do  not  know  exactly  the  date  of  its 
origination.     It  probably  grew  up  gradually  ;  it  seems  to  have 
been  in  existence  in  the  second  century  B.C.,  but  not  to  have 
been  fully  organized  till  about  the  year  100  B.C.     It  consisted 
of  seventy  members  (scribes  and  priests)  and  a  president;  the 
latter  was  the  high-priest,  as  long  as  there  was  a  high-priest  (up 
to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem).     The  Sanhedrin  at  first  had 
supreme  civil  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in   Israel.     After- 
wards  its   powers  were   abridged   by  the    Romans.     It  passed 
sentence  of  death  on  Jesus,  but  its  decision  had  to  be  ratified 


122  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE 

by  the  Roman  governor.  It  had  the  ordering  of  the  Jewish 
calendar. 

5.  Method  and  Influence  of  the  Scribes.  —  The  Jews, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  gone  naturally  into  the  study  of  their  Law, 
which  they  believed  to  be  the  divinely  revealed  guide  of  life. 
But,  in  their  eagerness  to  obey  it  strictly,  they  became  slaves 
of  the  letter  and  forgot  the  spirit.  It  was  this  that  Jesus 
charged  against  them.  Their  oral  commentary  or  legal  tradi- 
tion became  very  burdensome  (Acts  xv.  10,)  and  sometimes  in 
effect  set  aside  the  Law  (Mark  vii.  9).  Their  interpretations  of 
Scripture  were  often  forced  and  misleading.  The  result  of  the 
scribal  study  was  to  formalize  religion.  On  the  other 

hand,  the  scribes  or  doctors  (rabbis)  performed  the  great  work 
of  codifying  the  oral  law.  What  was  more  important,  their 
labors  helped  to  produce  that  ethical-religious  vigor  which  gave 
the  Jews  their  superiority  over  the  Roman  world,  and  enabled 
them  to  impress  their  purer  religious  ideas  on  their  contempo- 
raries, and  thus  prepare  the  way  for  Christianity. 

LITERATURE. 

Histories  of  Josephus,  Ewald,  Milman,  Jost;  Reuss,  "  Ge- 
schichte  des  Alten  Testaments;  "  Etheridge,  "Introduction  to 
Hebrew  Literature;  "  Bleek's  "  Introduction  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment; "  works  of  Hausrath  and  Schiirer  on  "  Neutestamentliche 
Zeitgeschichte." 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  period  of  the  religious  history  have  we  now  reached  ?  Does  this 
represent  a  modification  of  the  religion  of  Israel?  Is  it  the  last?  What 
had  the  prophets  labored  to  do?  Had  they  been  successful?  After  the 
Exile,  into  what  two  parts  was  Israel  divided  ?  To  what  did  they  devote 
themselves  ?  What  did  they  become  ?  What  is  a  church  ?  What  had 
they  ?  What  did  they  next  set  themselves  to  do  ?  Was  this  a  real  ad- 
vance? Why?  In  what  was  Israel  growing?  What  did  the  scribes  do? 

2.  By  whom  was  the  Law  completed  ?  What  happened  when  it  came  to 
be  put  into  practice  ?  What  class  of  men  thence  arose  ?  How  were  books 
then  made  ?  What  did  this  require ?  What  did  the  word  "scribe  "  come  to 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  123 

signify  ?  Why  ?  What  other  writings  were  afterwards  included  in  the 
study  ?  What  rules  were  made  for  copying  ?  Were  the  later  manuscripts 
thus  made  accurate  V  Have  we  any  of  the  earliest  V  Can  you  describe  the 
rise  of  synagogues  ?  What  was  the  nature  of  the  religious  service  held  in 
them?  Are  they  frequently  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament?  Are  they 
mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament?  [Yes,  in  the  late  Ps.  Ixxiv.  verse  8.] 
Why  were  the  Pharisees  associated  with  the  scribes  V  What  is  the  differ- 
ence between  them? 

3.  Do  we  know  much  of  the  earliest  teachers  of  the  Law  ?    What  was  the 
Great  Synagogue,  according  to  the  later  Jewish  tradition  ?    Is  this  histori- 
cal V  What  are  reported  of  several  teachers  V    How  did  they  generally  teach? 
Which  is  the  most  important  of  these  pairs  ?    What  was  the  difference  be- 
tween the  two  men  V     What  can  you  say  of  Hillel  ?     Who  was  his  grand- 
son ? 

4.  What  was  the  Sanhedrin  V    How  did  it  grow  up  ?    Can  you  give 
probable  dates  V     Of  whom  did  it  consist  ?    What  was  its  jurisdiction  at 
first  V    Afterwards  ?     What  of  its  sentence  on  Jesus  ?    Of  what  had  it  the 
ordering  ? 

5.  What  happened  to  the  Jews  in  their  eagerness  to  obey  their  Law? 
What  did  their  legal  tradition  become  V    What  was  the  result  of  the  study 
of  the  Law  by  the  scribes  ?    On  the  other  hand,  what  great  work  did  they 
perform  ?    What  was  a  more  important  result  of  their  labors  ? 


LESSON    XXV. 

THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 

1.  The  Herod  Family.  —  We  have  now  to  relate  the  de- 
struction of  the  Jewish  nationality,  whose  history  we  have 
followed  through  more  than  a  thousand  years.  The  Hasmonean 
kingdom,  after  a  vigorous  career  of  a  century,  had  dwindled 
down  to  almost  nothing  (Lesson  XX.) .  Hyrcanus  II.  and  Aris- 
tobulus,  the  sons  of  King  Alexander  Jannseus,  had  engaged  in 
civil  war,  and  the  Romans  had  been  called  in  ;  Pompey  had 
taken  possession  of  Jerusalem  (B.C.  64),  and  Crassus  had  plun- 
dered the  temple  (B.C.  53).  Finally  Julius  Caesar  made  the 
Idumean  Antipater  governor  of  Judea,  and  his  son  Herod  was 
afterwards  established  on  the  throne  ;  he  reigned  from  B.C.  37 
to  A.D.  4  ;  in  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  Jesus  of  JSazareth  was 


124  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE 

born.  He  was  a  vigorous  but  despotic  and  cruel  ruler.  He 
was  a  foreigner,  belonging  to  a  people  who  were  hereditary 
enemies  of  the  Jews  ;  he  was  attached  to  the  Romans  by  educa- 
tion and  interest,  arid  became  their  tool.  He  had  no  love  for 
the  people  over  whom  he  reigned.  He  pitilessly  extirpated  the 
royal  Hasmonean  family,  one  of  whom  (Mariamne)  he  had  mar- 
ried. He  trampled  savagely  on  cherished  Jewish  ideas.  He 
did  his  best  to  Hellenize  and  Romanize  the  nation  by  introduc- 
ing Greek  and  Roman  customs,  such  as  public  baths  and  theat- 
rical shows  ;  and  a  considerable  party  (the  Herodians,  Matt, 
xxii.  16)  adhered  to  him.  He  was  fond  of  splendid  buildings, 
and,  among  other  things,  pulled  down  the  temple  and  rebuilt  it 
in  magnificent  style,  so  that  it  was  one  of  the  wonders  of  the 
world  (John  ii.  20,  Matt.  xxiv.  1).  After  a  long  reign  he  died 
of  a  painful  disease,  universally  execrated.  The  story  told  of 
him  in  Matt.  ii.  is  quite  in  accordance  with  his  known  character. 
His  reign  is  a  step  towards  the  dissolution  of  the  Jewish  nation. 
A  good  many  of  his  descendants  are  mentioned  in 
the  New  Testament.  On  his  death  his  territory  was  divided  by 
the  Roman  Emperor  (Augustus)  among  his  sons :  Archelaus 
(Matt.  ii.  22)  had  Judea,  Samaria,  and  Idumea  (Edom)  ;  Herod 
Antipas  or  Antipater  (Matt.  xiv.  1-4)  received  Galilee  and 
Perea  ;  Philip  (Luke  iii.  1)  was  made  tetrarch  of  Iturea  and 
Trachonitis,  east  of  the  sea  of  Galilee.  After  some  years  (A.D. 
41-44)  one  of  his  grandsons,  Herod  Agrippa  I.  (Acts  xii.  1, 
20-23)  became  king  over  the  whole  land.  He  was  friendly  to 
the  Jewish  religion,  as  was  also  his  son,  Herod  Agrippa  II.  (Acts 
xx.  13),  who  had  a  sort  of  ecclesiastical  control  over  Judea. 
There  were  also  noteworthy  women  in  the  Herod  family,  — 
Herodias  (Matt.  xiv.  3),  Salome  (xiv.  6),  Drusilla  (Acts  xxiv. 
24),  and  Berenice  (xxv.  13). 

2.  The  Roman  Procurators. — Herod's  son,  Archelaus, 
was  so  bad  a  ruler  that  he  was  banished  by  the  Romans  (A.D.  6), 
and  Judea  was  placed  under  Roman  governors  or  procurators. 
The  fifth  of  these  was  the  Pontius  Pilate  (A.D.  26-37),  under 
whom  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  crucified.  After  him  came  two 
more,  and  then  Herod  Agrippa  I.,  mentioned  above,  was  made 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  125 

king.  After  his  death  there  were  seven  more  Roman  governors, 
of  whom  two  appear  in  the  book  of  Acts  (xxiv.  27). 

3.  The  Uprising  and  Fall.  —  The  Jews  had  never  submit- 
ted willingly  to  the  Roman  government.     A  party  among  them, 
indeed,  were  favorable  to  foreign  ideas,  but  the  mass  of  the 
people  sided  with  the  Pharisees,  who  were  strict  upholders  of  the 
national  life,  and  hated  the  Romans.     Some  were  constantly  on 
the  lookout  for  opportunity  to  revolt.     There  were  several  local 
uprisings,  which  were  easily  crushed  by  the  Romans.     Finally 
the  feeling  grew  too  strong  to  be  held  in  check.     There  was  not 
the  slightest  chance  of  success  against  the  power  of  Rome  ;  but 
the  Jews  were  desperate.     The  Zealots,  that  is,  the  men  who 
were  in  favor  of  immediate  revolt,  grew  daily  more  numerous. 
The  administration  of  the  fourteenth  procurator,  Gessius  Floras, 
was  particularly  oppressive.     On  the  other  hand,  there  was  no 
principle  of  order  in  the  Jewish  people  itself.     The  high-priest- 
hood,  which  was  the  natural  head  of  the  nation,  had  become 
contemptible;  high-priests  were  set  up  and  removed  at  the  will  of 
the  civil  ruler.     There  was  no  conservative  force  ;  the  Zealots 
infected  the  land  with  their  fanaticism,  and  the  people  plunged 
into  war.     The  history  of  this  war  has  been  written  by  a  man 
who  took  part  in  it,  Flavius  Josephus  ;  it  would  be  hard  to  find 
a  more  thrilling  narrative  than  his  account  of  the  struggle  in 
Galilee,  and  the  siege   and   capture  of  Jerusalem.     But   there 
could  be  only  one  termination  to  the  unequal  combat.     The  Jews 
fought  like  heroes  or  tigers,  and  fought  in  vain.     Jerusalem  was 
captured  by  Titus  (A.D.  70),  the  temple  was  destroyed,  the  peo- 
ple were  slain  or  banished,  the  land  was  left  desolate. 

The  Jews  have  never  recovered  from  this  blow.  They  have  never, 
since  that  time,  been  possessors  of  Palestine  ;  the  temple  has 
never  been  rebuilt  ;  there  has  never  since  been  a  Jewish  nation. 
But  though  the  nation  was  destroyed,  the  people  remained. 
Scattered  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  they  have  formed  a  new 
Israel  more  remarkable  in  some  respects  than  the  old. 

4.  Change  of  Language.  —  Ever  since   the   Exile  the  out- 
ward circumstances  of  the  Palestinian  Jews  had  been  determined 


1*26  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

by  their  surroundings.  Among  other  things  they  had  changed 
their  language  and  their  writing.  They  spoke  their  own  He- 
brew tongue,  and  used  the  old  Phoenician  letters  up  to  about  B  c. 
150.  But  the  Aramaic  or  Syriac  language  and  writing  were 
spreading  over  all  this  part  of  Asia,  and  the  Jews  adopted  them. 
In  this  respect  the  Aramaic  was  like  the  French  language  to-day, 
which  for  some  time  has  been  the  medium  of  intercourse  be- 
tween the  various  nations  of  Europe  ;  only  the  former  expelled 
its  neighbors  and  took  their  place.  For  a  century  or  two  before 
the  birth  of  Christ  the  Palestinian  Jews  wrote  most  of  their 
books  in  Aramaic ;  it  was  their  vernacular  in  the  New  Testament 
times,  —  it  was  spoken  by  Jesus  and  his  disciples  ;  it  was  also 
the  vernacular  of  the  Babylonian  Jews,  and  in  it  the  greater 
part  of  the  Talmud  is  written  (Lesson  XXVI.).  In  the  New 
Testament  it  is  called  Hebrew  (John  xix.  20,  Acts  xxii.  2)  ; 
the  two  languages  are  about  as  much  alike  as  English  and  Ger- 
man. In  Alexandria  and  the  rest  of  Egypt  the  Jews -spoke  and 
wrote  in  Greek ;  and  generally  they  adopted  the  language  of 
the  people  among  whom  they  lived.  Yet,  though  they  thus 
conformed  their  speech  to  that  of  their  neighbors,  they  continued 
to  be  Jews  in  face  and  thought. 

5.  Christianity.  —  During  this  period  the  greatest  religious 
movement  of  the  world  sprang  from  the  bosom  of  the  Jewish 
nation.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  appeared  and  taught  pure,  spiritual 
religion  in  Galilee  and  Jerusalem.  His  first  disciples  were 
Jews,  but  he  exercised  little  influence  on  his  own  people. 
Christianity  was  preached  among  the  other  nations,  and  accepted 
by  them  ;  the  Jews  retained  their  own  form  of  religion.  All 
through  the  New  Testament  times  the  Jewish  doctors  of  law 
were  pursuing  their  own  work.  They  believed  that  the  Law 
was  God's  final  revelation  of  truth  to  men,  and  it  seemed  to 
them  that  Jesus  and  his  followers  were  trying  to  destroy  the 
Law  ;  they  therefore  held  him  to  be  an  enemy  of  God.  Unfor- 
tunately for  them  they  could  not  distinguish  between  letter  and 
spirit;  they  could  not  see  that  Jesus  was  only  selecting  and 
fixing  the  permanent  elements  of  the  Old  Testament  teaching, 
in  order  to  give  them  to  all  the  world.  They  were  tied  down 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  127 

by  their  national  narrowness.  Their  religion  was  the  religion 
of  their  fathers,  of  their  people  ;  they  felt  all  parts  of  it  to  be 
important,  and  they  would  not  surrender  even  its  simplest  cere- 
mony. So  Christianity  passed  on,  and  left  no  trace  on  Judaism. 
For  a  century  or  two  a  good  many  Jews  embraced  the  new 
doctrine,  which  meant  for  them  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the 
Messiah  promised  in  the  Old  Testament;  but  the  nation  as  a 
whole,  the  national  development,  remained  unaffected.  Chris- 
tianity is  an  unimportant  incident  in  the  history  of  this  period 
of  the  religion  of  Israel. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  political  history  :  the  works  of  Josephus,  Ewald, 
Milman,  Palmer. 

2.  On  the  history  of  culture  :  Etheridge,  "  Introduction  to 
Hebrew   Literature;"   Jost,  "  Geschichte   des   Judenthurns ;  " 
Schiirer,  "  Neutestamentliche  Zeitgeschichte." 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  now  to  be  related  ?    What  had  become  of  the  Hasmonean 
kingdom  ?    What  did  the  Romans  do  ?    Who  was  Antipater  ?    Who  was  his 
son  V     What  was  Herod's  character  V    Did  he  love  the  Jews  V     How  did  he 
treat  the  Hasmoneans  V  —  and  Jewish  ideas  ?   Of  what  was  he  fond  V   Was  he 
universally  execrated  ?     What  story  is  told  of  him  in  Matt.  ii.  V    Are  many 
of  his  descendants  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament?     Can  you  refer  to  the 
passages  ? 

2.  When  was  Judea  placed  under  Roman  governors  ?    Who  was  the  fifth 
of  these  V    What  others  are  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament  ? 

3.  Had  the  Jews  ever  submitted  willingly  to  the  Romans?     Was  there  a 
Jewish  party  favorable  to  foreign  ideas  ?     What  of  the  mass  of  the  people  ? 
Was  there  a  growing  disposition  to  revolt  ?     Was  there  any  chance  of  suc- 
cess against  the  Romans  ?    Who  were  the  Zealots  ?     Did  they  grow  more 
numerous  ?    How  did  the  procurator  Gessius  Florus  increase  the  disaffection  ? 
What  was  the  condition  of  the  Jewish  nation  ?    What  of  the  high-priesthood  ? 
Who  has  written  the  history  of  the  war  that  followed?     When  was  Jerusa- 
lem taken  ?    Have  the  Jews  ever  recovered  from  the  blow  ?    Though  the 
nation  was  destroyed,  have  the  people  remained  ?    What  of  the  new  Israel  ? 

4.  How  long  did  the  Jews  continue  to  use  their  own  language  and  writ- 
ing?    What  did  they  then  adopt  ?     Of  what  Jews  did  the  Aramaic  become 


128  THE    HISTORY   OP   THE 

the  vernacular?  Was  this  language  like  the  Hebrew?  What  language  did 
the  Egyptian  Jews  speak?— other  Jews?  Did  the  Jews  still  retain  their 
national  appearance  and  thought  V 

5.  What  great  religious  movement  occurred  during  this  period  ?  Did  it 
greatly  influence  the  Jews?  What  did  they  believe?  How  did  they  look 
on  Jesus  ?  What  did  they  fail  to  see  ?  By  what  were  they  tied  down  ? 
Did  some  Jews  become  Christians  ?  What  did  Christianity  principally 
mean  for  them  ?  Is  Christianity  closely  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
religion  of  Israel  ? 


LESSON    XXVI. 

THE  TALMUD. 

1.  The  Later  Judaism.  —  After  the  time  of  Ezra  the  Jews, 
as  has  been  above  described,  became  people  of  a  book,  and 
that  book  was  the  Old  Testament,  or,  more  especially,  the  Tora, 
or  Law,  or  Pentateuch.  But  this  book  needed  explanations, 
and  after  a  while  the  explanations  grew  into  a  book,  which 
gradually  practically  usurped  the  place  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  became  the  chief  study  of  the  learned  men;  this  second 
book  was  the  Talmud.  It  is  the  representative  work  of  the 
later  Judaism,  as  the  Old  Testament  is  of  the  earlier.  The 
prophets  had  called  the  people  to  righteousness  and  the  fear  of 
God  in  ringing  tones;  the  priests  had  made  a  ritual  law  ;  the 
sages  had  discussed  human  life ;  the  psalmists  had  poured  out 
before  God  their  repentance,  their  fears  and  trust  and  hopes, 
their  peace  and  joy  ;  the  scribes  and  rabbis  undertook  to  turn 
religion  into  arithmetic.  The  Talmud  is  the  code  of  the  later 
Judaism,  comprising  both  the  civil  and  the  religious  law.  It 
reflects  the  spirit,  as  it  formed  the  study,  of  the  nation  at  the 
moment  when  it  rejected  Christianity.  It  is  the  product  of 
its  decaying  genius.  It  is  the  nation's  effort,  after  its  creative 
power  had  vanished,  to  reduce  the  spirituality  of  its  fathers  to 
rule.  Let  us  look  at  the  two  parts  of  the  Talmud:  the  Mishna, 
or  text,  and  the  Gemara,  or  commentary. 

2.  The  Mishna.  —  In  Hillel's  time  the  oral  explanations  of 
the  Law  had  grown  into  a  great  mass.  He  was  gifted  with  a 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  129 

retentive  memory  and  considerable  logical  power,  and  he  per- 
formed the  service  of  arranging  them  according  to  subject- 
matter  in  six  divisions,  called  orders.  After  his  death  the 
schools  continued  to  study  them  in  these  divisions.  Many  note- 
worthy men  devoted  their  lives  to  the  explanation  of  Scripture, 
following  the  rules  of  interpretation  that  Hillel  had  drawn  up. 
The  schools,  both  in  Palestine  and  in  Babylonia,  were  well 
organized,  having  presidents  and  other  instructors,  two  regular 
sessions  or  semesters  yearly,  and  public  disputations.  Up  to 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  chief  Palestine  school  was  in 
that  city ;  it  was  then  removed  to  Jamnia,  on  the  shore  of  the 
Mediterranean,  not  far  from  Mount  Carmel,  where  it  remained 
about  seventy  years,  surviving  the  unhappy  insurrection  of  Bar- 
cochba.  When  it  was  broken  up,  a  new  school  was  established 
at  Tiberias,  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  This  place  is  renowned  in 
connection  with  the  labors  of  Jewish  learned  men.  Here,  for 
many  centuries,  they  gave  their  lives  to  the  study  of  their  sacred 
books,  and  the  community  of  scholars  established  there  re- 
mained up  to  a  few  years  ago.  Here,  towards  the  latter 
part  of  the  second  century,  flourished  the  famous  Rabbi  Jehuda 
the  Holy,  commonly  called,  by  eminence,  simply  Rabbi.  The 
date  of  his  death  is  disputed;  some  give  it  as  A.D.  190,  others 
as  A.D.  220.  It  is  he  who  was  the  compiler  of  the  Mishna. 
There  was,  at  this  time,  a  growing  feeling  that  the  oral  explana- 
tions of  the  Law  ought  to  be  committed  to  writing,  lest  they 
should  vanish  from  men's  memories;  for,  up  to  this  time,  they 
had  been  taught  only  orally,  and  not  a  word  of  them  written 
down.  Several  attempts  were  accordingly  made  to  reduce  them 
to  writing ;  but  Jehuda's  is  the  one  that  obtained  general 
currency,  and  has  been  handed  down  to  us.  He  did  for  the 
Jewish  law  nearly  what  Blackstone  did  for  the  English:  he 
digested  and  arranged  it.  His  six  divisions  or  orders  were 
those  of  Hillel.  They  are:  1.  Zeraim  (Seeds),  on  prayers, 
sowing,  tithes,  and  first-fruits;  2.  Mocd  (Meeting  or  Festival), 
on  the  Sabbath,  Passover,  Day  of  Atonement,  Feast  of  Taber- 
nacles, New  Year,  Purim;  3.  Nashim  (Women),  on  laws  of 
marriage  and  divorce;  4.  Nezikin  (Injuries),  on  injuries,  loans, 
buying  and  selling,  the  Sanhedrin,  punishments,  oaths,  idolatry, 

9 


130  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

and  heresy,  together  with  the  interesting  tract  called  Pirke 
Abotli,  or  the  Sayings  of  the  Fathers,  a  collection  of  sketches 
of  the  men  who  transmitted  the  oral  law ;  5.  Kadashim  (Conse- 
crations), on  various  things  connected  with  sacrifices;  6.  Taha- 
roth  (Purifications),  on  the  rules  of  purification  from  ceremonial 
uncleanness.  Each  of  the  six  orders  is  made  up  of  several  trea- 
tises; there  are  sixty-three  of  these  in  all.  The  Mishna  is  the 
Digest  of  Jewish  law,  civil  and  religious.  It  is  written  in 
Aramaized  Hebrew. 

3.  The  Gemara.  —  After  the  Mishna  was  compiled,  it  became 
the  text  for  lectures  in  the  schools.     Being  brief  and  terse,  it 
also,  like  the  Law,  needed  explanation,  and,  in  the  course  of  a 
century  or  two,  it  had  called  forth  a  large  mass  of  oral  commen- 
tary, which  was  handed  down  from  teacher  to  teacher.     This 
likewise    was   committed   to    writing,   and  in   double  form,  in 
Palestine  and  in  Babylonia;  we  have  thus  the  Jerusalem  Ge- 
mara (that  is,  tradition)  and  the  Babylonian  Gemara.     Mishna 
and  Gemara  together  (text  and  commentary)  form  the  Talmud  ; 
we  commonly  speak  of  the  Talmuds  of  Jerusalem  and  Baby- 
lon. Of  these  the  latter  is  the  fuller  and  more  impor- 
tant.    The    Babylonian  Jews,  descendants   of   those  who  had 
been   carried   into   captivity  by   Nebuchadnezzar,   had   formed 
renowned  schools  at   Sora,  Nehardea,  and   Pumbaditha,  which 
rivalled,  and  sometimes  outshone,  the  sister-academy  at  Tiberias. 
In  the  fifth  century  of  our  era  Rabbi  Ashe  (called  Rabbana) 
did  for  the  commentary  what  Jehuda  had  done  for  the  text  :   he 
digested  and  arranged  it;  the  result  was  the  Babylonian  Gemara. 
The  date  of  the  Jerusalem  Gemara  is  uncertain ;  but  it  is  usu- 
ally thought  to  be  older  than  the  Babylonian.     The  language  of 
the  Gemara  is  Aramaic,  mixed  with  foreign  words. 

4.  Contents  of  the  Talmud.  —  The  word  "talmud"  means 
doctrine,  or  teaching,  and  the  book  so  called  is  the  digest  of 
the  Jewish  thought  of   the  first  centuries  of  our  era,  on  civil 
polity,   religion,    science,    and    philosophy  ;    it   is    the    Jewish 
Cyclopedia  of    Sciences.     The  disputations   of    the  rabbis,   of 
which  the  Gemara  is  a  record,  traverse  a  wide  and  varied  field, 
and   are   characterized   by  an   amazing  -mixture  of   acuteness, 
narrowness,  geniality,  profoundness,  and  nonsense  (the  same 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  131 

thing  may  be  said  of  the  writings  of  the  Church  Fathers). 
The  legal  discussions  and  judicial  decisions  (called  Halacha) 
are  often  instructive  by  their  sharp  common  sense  and  sound 
judgment  ;  the  ethical  and  devotional  disquisitions  and  stories 
(Haggada)  are  commonly  archseologically  and  philosophically 
interesting.  The  religious  character  of  the  Talmud 

corresponds  to  what  has  just  been  said.  The  book  is  a  faith- 
ful reflection  of  the  religion  of  Israel  of  that  day.  It  contains 
much  true  and  lofty  religious  thought.  In  it  may  be  found 
parallels  to  many  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  and  elsewhere.  On  the  other  hand,  it  shows  bigotry, 
narrowness,  and  pettiness.  Especially  it  is  lacking  in  inspir- 
ing power.  It  conceives  of  religion  too  much  as  a  system  of 
rules.  In  reading  it  one  does  not  feel  the  breath  of  the  spirit 
of  God.  Its  teaching  may  be  very  much  like  that  of  the  New 
Testament  (which  was  written  about  the  same  time  and  by 
Jews) ,  but  it  lacks  the  life  of  the  New  Testament. 

5.  Other  Literature.  —  Besides  the  Talmud,  various  other 
works,  containing  commentaries  on  the  Law,  were  composed  or 
begun  about  this  time  ;  that  is,  in  the  five  first  centuries  of  our 
era.  They,  like  the  Talmud,  contain  the-  two  elements,  halacha 
and  haggada.  To  the  latter  of  these  the  name  "  Midrash  " 
(investigation  or  commentary)  is  sometimes  given. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  Talmud  :   histories  of  Ewald,  Jost,  Graetz,  Herz- 
feld;      Fuerst,     "  Culturgeschichte     der     Juden;"    Etheridge, 
"Introduction  to   Hebrew   Literature;"  works  on  the  history 
of  New  Testament  times,  by  Hausrath   and    Schiirer;  article 
' '  Talmud ' '   in  the  works   of  Emanuel   Deutsch ;    articles   in 
cyclopedias. 

2.  Translations:  Latin  translation  of  the  Mishna,  by  Suren- 
husius,  Amsterdam,  1698-1703;    English  translation  of   Eigh- 
teen Treatises  of  the  Mishna,  by  De  Sola  and  Raphall,  London, 
1845;  Barclay,  "The  Talmud"  (17  Treatises),  1878;  Schwab, 
"Jerusalem    Talmud"    (13    Treatises),    Parisf  1871-82  ;    A. 
Wiinsche,  "Jerusalem  Talmud"  (Haggada),  Zurich,  1880. 


132  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 


QUESTIONS. 

1.  How  did  the  Talmud  usurp  the  place  of  the  Old  Testament  among  the 
Jews  ?    How  did  the  work  of  the  scribes  differ  from  that  of  the  old  prophets, 
priests,  sages,   and  psalmists  ?    To  what  did  the  Jews  endeavor  to  reduce 
religion  in  the  Talmud  ?     What  are  its  two  parts  ? 

2.  What  service  did  Hillel  perform  ?    After  his  death  what  did  the  schools 
do  V    How  were  these  schools  organized  V     Where  was  the  chief  Palestine 
school  up  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  V     Where  after  that  ?     What  can 
you  say  of  Tiberias  ?    What  is  the  date  of  Rabbi  Jehuda?    Why  did  he 
undertake  to  arrange  the  oral  tradition?     What  is  the  name  of  the  book  he 
composed?    Can  you  mention  its  six  divisions?     What  is  the  Mishna  ? 
What  is  a  digest  ? 

3.  What  use  was  made  of  the  Mishna?    Why  did  it  need  commentary? 
In  what  two  countries  was  this  commentary  committed  to  writing  ?     What 
is  it  called?    What  is  the  Talmud?     Who  compiled  the  Babylonian  Tal- 
mud ?     When  ?    What  of  the  date  of  the  Jerusalem  Talmud  ? 

4.  What  does  Talmud  mean  ?    What  may  the  Talmud  be  called  ?     What 
is  the  character  of  the  disputations  of  the  rabbis  ?     What  is  Halacha  ?  — 
Haggada  ?    Of  what  is  the  Talmud  a  faithful  reflection  ?     Has  it  lofty 
thought?     Does  it  contain  parallels  to  the  sayings  of  Jesus?     In  what  is  it 
lacking?    How  does  it  conceive  of  religion?     What  quality  of  the  New 
Testament  is  not  found  in  it  ? 

5.  What  other  works  were  composed  or  begun  about  this  time  ?     What 
two  elements  do  they  contain  ?    What  is  Haggada  sometimes  called  ? 


LESSON    XXVII. 

THE  REMAINING  LITERATURE. 

Philo  and  Josephus.  —  The  Talmud  may  be  called  the 
second  Pentateuch.  As  the  Old  Testament  Pentateuch,  or  Tora 
(Law),  embodies  the  old  Israelitish  religious  ideas  extending 
over  seven  or  eight  centuries  (say  from  Samuel  to  Nehemiah), 
so  the  Talmud  is  a  collection  of  the  later  ideas  extending  over 
about  six  centuries  (say  from  the  second  century  B.C.  to  the  fifth 
century  A.D.),  and  is  a  continuation  of  and  commentary  on  the 
earlier  books.  These  two  books  may  be  said  to  give  the  whole 
history  of  the  religion  of  Israel ;  for  before  the  time  represented 


RELIGION   OP   ISRAEL.  133 

by  the  Pentateuch  Israel  was  only  a  half-civilized  nation,  and 
after  the  Talmud  nothing  new  was  added  by  Jewish  thought. 
To  illustrate  this  we  may  take  a  general  view  of  the  literature 
of  the  Israelites  after  Christ.  But  first  we  must  mention  two 
famous  writers  who  represent  not  the  spirit  of  Israelitish  thought, 
but  that  thought  modified  or  transformed  by  foreign  influence : 
they  are  Philo  and  Josephus.  Philo  of  Alexandria  (first  half 
of  the  first  century)  adopted  the  Greek  (Platonic)  philosophy, 
which  he  tried  to  find  in  the  Law.  To  do  this  he  was  obliged 
to  allegorize  the  Pentateuch.  He  influenced  Christian  rather 
than  Jewish  thought.  Flavius  Josephus  (latter  half  of  the 
first  century),  born  of  a  priestly  family,  fought  against  the 
Romans,  but  submitted  and  went  over  to  them  just  before  the 
capture  of  Jerusalem.  He  became  to  a  great  degree  Romanized. 
He  wrote  the  history  of  Israel  in  two  works,  the  Antiquities 
and  the  Wars  of  the  Jews.  These  are  of  prime  importance, 
though  he  is  not  always  trustworthy.  Both  these  authors  wrote 
in  Greek.  Let  us  now  look  at  the  Jewish  literature  proper. 

1.  Bible  Translations.  —  We  have  seen  how  the  Jews,  soon 
after  the  Greek  conquest,  everywhere  gave  up  their  own  lan- 
guage (Hebrew),  and  adopted  that  of  the  people  among  whom 
or  near  whom  they  dwelt.  In  Egypt  and  elsewhere  they  learned 
to  speak  Greek;  in  Palestine  they  spoke  Aramaic  or  Syriac. 
Thus  the  people  were  unable  to  understand  their  Scriptures  in 
Hebrew,  and  desired  to  have  them  translated  into  the  tongue 
they  spoke^  From  this  there  resulted  in  Egypt  the  Septuagint 
version  (Lesson  XVII. );  and  in  Palestine  and  Babylonia  trans- 
lations were  made  into  Aramaic.  These  were  called  tarqums, 
that  is,  interpretations  or  translations.  They  were  at  first  oral: 
the  synagogue  reader  used  to  read  the  Scripture  in  Hebrew  and 
then  render  it  into  Aramaic  for  the  benefit  of  the  people.  After 
a  while,  for  greater  convenience,  they  were  written  down.  The 
earliest  of  these  written  targums  is  one  of  the  Pentateuch,  dat- 
ing from  the  second  century  of  our  era;  it  is  called  the  Targum 
of  Onkelos,  and  is  a  simple  and  generally  faithful  translation 
of  the  Hebrew,  and  therefore  helpful  to  us  in  our  study.  It  may 
be  added  that  about  the  same  time  was  produced  a  new  transla- 


134  THE    HISTORY   OF  THE 

tion  of  the  Bible  into  Greek,  by  a  Jew  named  Aquila.  The 
Christians,  who  like  the  Jews  used  the  Septuagint,  employed 
this  version  to  prove  from  the  prophets  the  messiahship 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ;  arid  the  Jews,  dissatisfied  with  the 
Septuagint,  made  this  new  translation  on  which  they  might  rely 
against  the  Christians  as  a  faithful  rendering  of  the  original. 
The  version  of  Aquila,  of  which  fragments  remain,  is  extremely, 
sometimes  absurdly,  literal.  The  name  Onkelos  is  supposed  to 
be  a  pseudonym,  and  merely  the  Hebrew  form  of  Aquila.  The 
next  targum  after  Onkelos  is  that  of  Jonathan  on  the  propheti- 
cal books;  it  is  less  literal,  more  paraphrastic  than  the  former, 
and  introduces  a  good  many  later  religious  ideas.  Then  came 
targums  on  the  other  books  (Hagiographa) ,  and  on  the  Penta- 
teuch. These  are  not  very  valuable  as  translations.  Sometimes 
they  are  mere  paraphrases,  full  of  rabbinical  notions.  They 
are,  however,  valuable  as  indications  of  the  ideas  of  the  times 
in  which  they  were  written,  and  are  full  of  matter  interesting 
to  the  general  reader. 

2.  The  Masora.  —  The  Jews,  as  has  been  said,  became 
worshippers  of  the  letter  of  the  Scripture.  Every  word,  every 
letter,  of  the  Old  Testament  became  sacred  in  their  eyes.  This 
would  have  been  well  enough  if  they  had  not  at  the  same  time 
shut  their  eyes  to  the  deeper  spiritual  meaning  of  the  Bible. 
The  study  of  biblical  words  was  called  masora,  and  the  learned 
men  who  pursued  it  were  the  Masorites.  What  they  did  was 
this:  1.  It  was  necessary,  of  course,  that  the  Scriptures  should 
be  read  correctly  in  the  synagogue ;  and  therefore  they  fixed  on 
a  standard  pronunciation  (as  our  dictionaries  try  to  do).  In 
order  to  indicate  the  pronunciation  they  devised  signs  for  the 
vowel-sounds;  hitherto  only  the  consonants  of  Hebrew  words 
had  been  written,  thus:  mlk,  which  in  English  you  can  pronounce 
only  milk,  might  in  Hebrew  be  pronounced  melek,  molek,  melok, 
maluk,  or  malak.  They  pronounced  after  the  manner  of  their 
time,  which  may  not  have  been  exactly  that  of  the  time  of  Da- 
vid and  Isaiah.  2.  They  counted  the  words  and  letters  of  the 
Old  Testament,  in  order  to  be  sure  that  none  were  left  out  in 
copying  manuscripts.  3.  They  settled  the  text  of  the  Scripture, 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  125 

that  is,  decided  that  such  and  such  words  belonged  in  certain 
places  and  not  other  words.  All  manuscripts  were  then  written 
after  the  standard  copy.  All  existing  Hebrew  manuscripts  give 
the  masoretic  text;  and  therefore,  though  about  1,400  are  known, 
they  only  tell  us  how  the  Old  Testament  was  read  by  the  Jews 
in  the  sixth  century  of  our  era. 

3.  Grammars   and   Dictionaries.  —  After  the  Moslem  con- 
quest of  Syria,  Babylonia,  and  Egypt  (from  the  seventh  century 
on),  the  Jews  in  those  regions  learned  to  speak  Arabic,  and  soon 
felt  the  need  of  books  which  should  give  the  Arabic  equivalents 
for  Hebrew  words.     Then  they  caught  the  grammatical  spirit 
from  the  Arabs,  who  had  got  it  from  the  Greeks  and  Syrians. 
Many  Jews  wrote  Hebrew  grammars  and  dictionaries,  and  they 
have  continued  this  sort  of  work  up  to  the  present  day.     The 
most  famous  of  the  earlier  grammarians  is  Elias  Levita,  who 
was  a  contemporary  of  Martin  Luther,  and  the  teacher  of  many 
Christians;   at  that  time  the  Christian  world  was  just  waking 
up  to  the  study  of  Hebrew. 

4.  Expository  and   Philosophical   Works.  —  Ever  since 
the  composition  of  the  Talmud  the  Jews  have  been  writing  com- 
mentaries on  it  and  on  the  Old  Testament.     There  is  a  good 
deal  of  sameness  in  these  works,  and  for  the  most  part  they  are 
not  very  valuable.     (This  remark  is  not  meant  to  apply  to  recent 
Jewish  commentaries,  which  follow  scientific  methods  of  exeo-e- 

o 

sis.)  The  most  noted  commentators  on  the  Bible  are  Rashi 
(France,  eleventh  century),  Aben  Ezra  (Spain,  twelfth  century), 
David  Kimchi  (France,  thirteenth  century),  and  Abarbanel 
(Spain,  fifteenth  century).  The  most  famous  expounder  of  the 
Talmud  is  Maimonides  (Spain,  twelfth  century),  called  by  the 
Jews  Rambam,  that  is,  Rabbi  Moses  Ben  Maimon  (R  M  B  M). 
He  was  at  the  same  time  the  boldest  and  most  philosophical  of 
mediseval  Jewish  writers,  ranking,  indeed,  with  the  foremost 
thinkers  of  that  period.  The  Jews  expressed  their  judgment  of 
him  in  the  saying:  "From  Moses  to  Moses  there  has  arisen 
none  like  Moses,"  that  is,  Maimonides  had  not  his  equal  since 
the  days  of  the  great  lawgiver  of  Israel.  In  those  days  the 


136  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

Jews  learned  philosophy  from  the  Arabic  translations  of  Aris- 
totle, and  in  their  turn  became  the  teachers  of  Christian  phil- 
osophers. The  philosophy  of  the  Jews  was  thus  not  their  own ;  it 
was  borrowed  from  their  neighbors.  So  it  has  been  ever  since. 
They  have  followed  the  movements  of  the  peoples  among  whom 
they  lived.  After  the  establishment  of  the  modern  method  of 
investigation  (the  inductive  method)  by  Bacon  and  Descartes, 
they  produced  Benedict  Spinoza  (Holland  and  France,  seven- 
teenth century),  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  world's  thinkers; 
but  he  was  a  follower  of  Descartes,  and  gave  up  Judaism.  So 
Moses  Mendelssohn  was  a  disciple  of  the  German  philosophers 
of  his  time.  It  is  religion  and  not  philosophy  that  Israel  has 
given  to  the  world. 

5.  Cabbala.  —  The  mystical  or  gnostic  teaching  of  the  Jews 
is  called  Cabbala  (the  word  means  u  tradition  "),  and  those  who 
study  it  Cabbalists.  It  is  an  attempt  to  explain  the  universe 
(including  man)  and  its  relation  to  God  mystically.  The  Jews 
began  this  study  early,  but  how  they  were  led  to  it  we  don't 
know.  No  doubt  it  was  once  useful  in  inciting  men  to  think 
about  the  problems  of  the  soul;  but  it  is  too  fanciful  to  produce 
permanently  good  results.  The  two  great  books  of  the  Cabbala 
are  the  Yesira  and  the  Sohar,  written  about  the  thirteenth 
century. 

6.  The    Karaites. —It   is   interesting   to   observe   that   one 
small  section  of  the  Jews  did  not  follow  the  Talmud,  that  is, 
the  oral  tradition,   but  confined   themselves  to  the   Scripture, 
whence  they  were  called  Karaites  (from  the  Hebrew  word  kara, 
"  scripture,"  or,  "  to  read  ").     They  are  a  small  and  uninfluen- 
tial  body,  strict  in  life,   but  narrow  in  thought  arid  culture. 
They  are  now  found  chiefly  in  Russia,  Turkey,  and  Egypt. 

7.  Poetry.  —  We  should  expect  to  find  that  so  active  a  peo- 
ple as  the  Jews  had  addicted  themselves  somewhat  to  poetry  in 
the  various  lands  of  their  dispersion.    In  fact,  they  have  always 
followed  the  lead  of  their  neighbors  in  this  respect.     In  Alex- 
andria they  imitated  the  Greek  poets  (Lesson  XXII.).     At  a 
later  time  they  felt  the  stimulus  of  the  Syrian  Christians  and 
the  Moslem  Arabs.     When  they  settled  in  Europe,  they  wrote 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  137 

poetry  in  Spain,  France,  Italy,  and  Germany,  which  was  based 
on  models  furnished  them  in  these  countries.  And  therefore, 
though  there  is  a  large  mass  of  poetry  written  by  Jews  since  the 
origination  of  the  Talmud,  there  is,  properly  speaking,  no  Jew- 
ish poetry.  As  the  Israelites  spoke  Arabic  or  Spanish  or  French 
or  German  or  Italian,  so  they  wrote  Arabic,  Spanish,  French, 
German,  or  Italian  poetry,  though  they  may  have  used  the  He- 
brew language.  They  have  always  kept  up  the  study  of  their 
ancient  tongue. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  Philo  and  Josephus:  articles  in   cyclopedias.     Man- 
gay's  English  translation  of  Philo  is  published  by  Bohn.     Eng- 
lish translations  of  Josephus  are  easily  accessible ;  of  the  Wars 
the  best  is  Trail's. 

2.  On  the  Targums:    there  is  a  very  good  article  in  Smith's 
Bible  Dictionary;    English  translations  of  Onkelos  and  Jona- 
than, by  J.  W.  Etheridge,  London. 

3.  On  the  Masora :  articles  in  Herzog  and  Schenkel ;  books 
of  Introduction. 

4.  On  the  commentators,  philosophers,  and  cabbalists:  Jost, 
"  Geschichte  des  Judenthums;"    Etheridge,  "  Introduction  to 
Hebrew  Literature." 

5.  On   the   poets:    the   above-mentioned;    and    Delitzsch's 
"  Geschichte  der  Jiidischen  Poesie." 

QUESTIONS. 

What  is  the  relation  of  the  Talmud  to  the  Pentateuch  ?  What  may 
these  two  books  be  sa'd  to  give  ?  Before  looking  at  the  later  literature,  what 
two  famous  Jewish  writers  must  be  mentioned  ?  What  do  they  represent  ? 
When  did  Philo  live  ?  What  did  he  do?  What  is  the  date  of  Josephus  ? 
The  outline  of  his  life  V  What  did  he  write  ? 

1.  Why  did  the  Jews  have  translations  of  their  Scriptures  ?  What  ver- 
sion had  they  in  Egypt  ?  What  are  targums  ?  Were  they  at  first  oral  or 
written?  Which  is  the  earliest  of  the  written  targums  ?  What  new  Greek 
version  was  produced  at  this  time?  Why  was  it  written  ?  What  was  the 
next  targum  after  Onkelos  ?  What  targums  followed  ?  In  what  respect 
are  they  valuable  ? 


138  THE    HISTORY   OF    THE 

2.  What  is  the  masora?    Who  are  the  Masorites  ?     Can  you  mention  the 
three  things  that  they  did  ?     What  text  of  the  Old  Testament  do  existing 
Hebrew  manuscripts  give?     Can  we  learn  from  them  certainly  the  text  of 
Christ's  time?    What  earlier  authorities  for  this  latter  text  have  we  ?     [The 
Greek  and  Aramaic  versions,  and  the  quotations  in  the  New  Testament.] 

3.  From  whom  did  the  Jews  catch  the  grammatical  spirit  ?    Did  they 
make  many  Hebrew  grammars  and  dictionaries  ?     Can  you  mention  one 
famous  grammarian  ?    Of  whom  was  he  a  contemporary  ?    When  did  Chris- 
tian Europe  begin  the  study  of  Hebrew  ? 

4.  Have  the  Jews  composed  many  commentaries  on  the  Bible  and  the 
Talmud  ?    Are  these  valuable  ?    Who  is  the  most  famous  Talmud  commen- 
tator ?     What  saying  had  the  Jews  about  him  ?    Have  the  Jews  ever  had 
any  real  philosophy  of  their  own  ?    What  great  Jewish  thinker  lived  in  the 
seventeenth  century  ? 

5.  What  is  the  Cabbala  ?    Is  it  now  useful  ?    Was  it  formerly  useful  ? 

6.  Who  are  the  Karaites  ?    Have  they  ever  been  influential  ?    Where 
are  some  of  them  now  found  ? 

7.  Have  the  Jews  written  much  poetry  since  the  time  of  the  Talmud  ? 
Is  it,  properly  speaking,  Israelitish  or  Jewish  poetry  ?    Why  not  ?    Have 
they  always  kept  up  the  study  of  Hebrew  ? 


LESSON    XXVIII. 

OUTWARD  HISTORY  FROM   THE  FALL   OF 
JERUSALEM. 

1.  Proselyting. — It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that,  for  several 
centuries  about  the  beginning  of  our  era,  the  religion  of  Israel 
made  numerous  converts  among  the  pagan  peoples.  Judaism 
was  not  missionary,  it  was  proselyting;  which  is  equivalent  to 
saying  that  it  was  a  national  and  not  a  universal  religion  like 
Christianity:  it  did  not  make  organized  efforts  to  press  its  na- 
tional faith  on  other  peoples,  but  it  required  them,  when  they 
adopted  it,  to  become  Jews.  It  was  anxious  for  the  triumph  of 
Judaism  rather  than  of  pure  religion  ;  this  was  the  disposition 
that  Jesus  denounced  (Matt,  xxiii.  15).  About  the 

beginning  of  our  era  the  old  religions  of  the  Greek,  Roman,  and 
Semitic  world  were  in  process  of  dissolution ;  the  people  had  out- 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  139 

grown  them,  and  ceased  to  find  in  them  satisfaction  for  their 
religious  needs.  Judaism,  with  its  lofty  conception  of  God  and 
its  strict  ethical  code  and  its  authoritative  ness,  proved  attractive 
to  many  minds.  There  were  thousands  of  proselytes  all  over  the 
Roman  empire,  and  in  the  outlying  lands.  These  were  of  two 
classes:  the  proselytes  of  the  gate  conformed  to  Jewish  customs 
except  circumcision;  the  proselytes  of  righteousness  were  cir- 
cumcised, and  became  members  of  the  Jewish  people;  the  for- 
mer are  called  u  devout  men  "in  the  English  New  Testament. 
The  Jewish  faTth  was  everywhere  influential.  A  wife  of  the 
Emperor  Nero  is  said  to  have  been  a  proselyte.  The  satirist 
Juvenal  ridicules  the  power  of  Jewish  teachers  over  the  Roman 
women.  The  royal  family  of  Adiabene  (a  country  lying  just 
east  of  the  Tigris,  near  Nineveh)  embraced  Judaism;  King 
Izates  underwent  circumcision,  and  his  mother,  Helena,  enriched 
the  temple  with  great  gifts.  This  was  in  the  time  of  the  Ein- 
peror  Claudius.  There  were  Jewish  tribes  in  Arabia,  and  not  a 
few  of  the  inhabitants  adopted  their  faith.  But  these  triumphs 
of  the  religion  of  Israel  were  destined  to  be  short-lived.  They 
served  chiefly  to  prepare  the  way  for  Christianity  and  Islam. 
The  national  faith  of  Israel  could  not  permanently  pass  the 
boundaries  of  the  nation. 

2.  History  in  Palestine.  —  The  outward  history  of  the 
Jews  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  has  little  general  interest. 
It  is  the  history  not  of  a  nation  but  of  detached  communities. 
In  Palestine  they  were  restless  under  the  heavy  yoke  of  the 
Romans,  and  in  Trajan's  time  (A.D.  115)  there  were  bloody 
uprisings  by  their  brethren  in  Cyrene  and  Cyprus.  The  Romans 
resolved  to  root  out  the  Israeli tish  religion,  which  they  felt  to  be 
incompatible  with  the  unity  of  the  empire.  Trajan  caused  the 
temple-mount  to  be  ploughed  up.  His  successor,  Hadrian,  built 
a  Roman  city  on  the  site  of  Jerusalem,  called  it  Aelia,  after  his 
family,  and  forbade  Jews  to  enter  it.  This  harshness  drove  the 
unhappy  people  to  revolt.  An  adventurer,  who  went  by  the 
name  of  Bar-cochba  (Son  of  a  Star,  in  allusion  to  Num.  xxiv. 
17),  proclaimed  himself  the  Messiah,  sent  by  God  to  deliver  the 
nation  from  the  Romans.  He  was  acknowledged  by  the  famous 


140  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

rabbi  Akiba;  thousands  of  men  flocked  to  his  standard,  and  a 
fierce  war  ensued,  speedily  terminated  by  the  defeat  and  death 
of  the  pretended  Messiah  and  the  execution  of  Akiba  and  thou- 
sands of  his  countrymen.  The  Jews  were  again  crushed  to 
the  earth,  and  after  this  made  no  more  attempts  at  indepen- 
dence in  their  own  land.  They  continued  for  some  time  to  have  a 
religious  organization,  at  the  head  of  which  was  a  Nasi,  or  Prince, 
whose  religious  authority  was  acknowledged  by  the  whole  Jewish 
world;  but  Palestine  was  no  longer  theirs.  Some  of  them  have 
lived  on  there  ever  since;  a  few  thousands  are  now  dwelling  on 
the  sacred  soil,  to  which  many  go  to  die  and  be  buried ;  but  the 
body  of  the  people  have  transferred  themselves  to  other  lands. 
Whether  the  nation  will  ever  return  to  Palestine,  it  is  impossible 
to  say  ;  it  seems  unlikely  now. 

3.  In  Babylonia.  —  The  Babylonian  Jews  had  formed  a 
prosperous  community  ever  since  the  Exile,  surviving  repeated 
changes  of  foreign  dynasties,  and  pursuing  legal  studies  with 
marked  success.  In  this  later  time,  as  the  Palestinians  had  their 
Nasi,  so  the  Babylonians  had  their  Resh  Glutha,  or  Head  of  the 
Captivity,  who  exercised  the  functions  of  a  civil  and  religious 
chief  in  his  own  district,  and  paid  a  partial  and  not  always 
willing  homage  to  his  metropolitan  brother  in  Palestine.  There 
was  considerable  activity  in  the  schools,  resulting  in  elaboration 
of  the  ritual  and  ethical  law,  but  there  was  no  real  advance  in 
religion.  The  Babylonian  Jews  had  their  trials  and 

sufferings,  like  their  brethren  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  The 
monarchs  of  the  new  Persian  kingdom  (the  Sassanide,  founded 
in  the  third  century  of  our  era)  were  zealous  adherents  of  the 
Zoroastrian  religion,  and  not  unfrequently  persecuted  their  Jew- 
ish subjects.  In  651  A.D.  the  Sassanide  kingdom  was  conquered 
by  the  Moslem  Arabs,  and  the  Jews  remained  undisturbed  under 
the  rule  of  their  new  masters.  Apart  from  the  oppression  of 
local  governors,  indeed,  their  condition  was  bettered  by  this 
change  of  affairs.  The  Arabian  Califs  became  patrons  of  science 
and  art.  Learned  Jews  were  put  into  positions  of  trust,  and 
Jewish  thought  was  affected  by  Arabian  science.  So  it  con- 
tinued till  towards  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  when  the 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  141 

Jewish  Babylonian  Patriarchate  (that  is,  the  office  of  the  Resh 
Glutha)  ceased  to  exist,  and  the  people  were  scattered.  Many 
of  them  went  to  Egypt,  Spain,  and  other  countries,  and  those 
who  remained  were  absorbed  in  the  neighboring  population. 

4.  In  Europe.  —  Driven  out  of  Asia  the  Jews  began  a  new 
and  vigorous  life  in   Europe.     They  settled  by  thousands   in 
Spain  and  the  adjoining  countries.     They  devoted  themselves 
to   learning   and  the  accumulation    of  wealth.      They  became 
famous  as  bankers,  physicians,  and  philosophers.     Self-contained 
and  persistent,  they  were  equally  necessary  to  the  Moslem  and 
the  Christian  princes  of  Spain  in  the  long  series  of  wars  between 
these  powers.     The  histories  of  the  Middle  Ages  abound  in  cu- 
rious narratives  of  Jewish  energy  and  success.     The  Moslems 
favored   and  fostered   them.     Christian    bigotry  finally   drove 
them  from  Spain  (Ferdinand  and  Isabella).     But  they  flourished 
in  France,  England,  Italy,  and  Germany.     They  had  innumer- 
able synagogues,  schools,  and  commercial  houses.     Often  perse- 
cuted and  plundered,  hated  and  despised  as  enemies  of  Chris- 
tianity, they   grew   steadily   in   numbers   and   power.     As  the 
Christian  nations  advanced  in  enlightenment,  they  saw  the  folly 
of  their  treatment  of  the  Jews,  and  accorded  them  more  and  more 
privileges.    At  the  present  day  their  legal  status  is,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions, the  same  as  that  of  other  people.     Their  social  ostracism 
remains  ;  this  is  partly  the  fault  of  their  intense  self-assertion 
and  lack  of  social  culture,  and  partly  the  fault  of  Christian  race- 
prejudice.     Their  religion  has  ceased  to  have  any  attraction  for 
those  who  are  not  born  Jews. 

5.  Messianic   Expectations.  —  After  Bar-cochba's  failure 
the   rabbis    continued    to  discuss  the    Messianic  question,  but 
•without  notable  result.     The  opinion  sprang  up  that  there  would 
be  two  Messiahs,  one  a  son  of  Joseph,  who  should  suffer  and 
perish,  the  other  a  son  of  David,  who  should  be  victorious  and 
found  a  Jewish  kingdom.     But  circumstances  rarely  permitted 
the  scattered  sons  of  Israel  to  make  a  serious  attempt  at  estab- 
lishing a  nationality.     One  curious  episode  of  this  sort  may  be 
mentioned:  a  certain  Shabbathai  Zwi,  born  in  Smyrna  in  1641 , 


142  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

raised  the  Messianic  standard  in  Turkey.  Thousands  of  Jews, 
including  many  learned  men,  acknowledged  his  pretensions  and 
followed  him.  The  East  was  filled  with  joy;  Zwi  set  out  to 
march  to  Jerusalem,  and  was  everywhere  received  by  his  coun- 
trymen with  royal  honors.  But  the  farce  speedily  ended.  The 
pretender  was  summoned  before  the  sultan,  and  there  denied 
his  Messianic  claims,  and  embraced  Islam.  There  was  a  simi- 
lar attempt  a  few  years  ago  in  Yemen  (Arabia),  and  the  Ortho- 
dox Jews  still  look  for  a  son  of  David  who  shall  lead  them  back 
to  their  own  land. 

LITERATURE. 

Etheridge's  Introduction;  Jost's  Geschichte;  various  histo- 
ries of  the  Moslems,  of  Spain,  England,  and  other  European 
countries;  F.  D.  Mocatta,  "  The  Jews  of  Spain  and  Portugal," 
London,  1877. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Did  Judaism  make  converts  among  the  pagans  ?  Was  it  a  missionary 
religion?  What  is  a  proselyting  spirit  ?  What  was  true  of  the  old  religion 
at  the  beginning  of  our  era?  Why  did  Judaism  prove  attractive  to  many 
minds  V  What  were  the  two  classes  of  proselytes  ?  What  instances  can  you 
give  of  the  spread  of  Jewish  religious  ideas  ?  Were  these  triumphs  per- 
manent? For  what  did  they  serve  ? 

2.  Why  has  the  later  outward  history  of  the  Jews  little  general  interest  ? 
What  was  the  condition  in  Palestine  ?     What  did  the  Romans  resolve  to 
do  ?      What  did  Trajan  do  ?  —  Hadrian  ?     What  was  the  result  ?    Can  you 
describe  the  uprising  under  Bar-cochba  ?     What  organization  did  the  Pal- 
estine Jews  continue  to  have  ?     Have  they  ever  since  possessed  the  land  ? 
Do  some  of  them  still  dwell  there  ?    What  of  the  nation's  again  returning 
thither  ? 

3.  What  had  been  the  condition  of  the  Babylonian  Jews  since  the  Exile  ? 
What  organization  had  they  in  later  times  ?     What  was  the  result  of  the 
work  of  the  schools?     What  was  the  condition  of  the  Babylonian  Jews 
under  the  Sassanide  kingdom?  — under  the  Moslems?     How  long  did  the 
Babylonian  Patriarchate  last  ?     What  then  became  of  the  people  ? 

4.  Whither  did  the  Jews  go  from  Asia?    In  what  countries  did  they  set- 
tle ?    To  what  did  they  devote  themselves  ?    Were  they  especially  successful 
in  Spain?     Which  power  favored  them?     What  drove  them  from  Spain? 
When  ?     Where  did  they  flourish  ?     What  has  b  en  the  result  of  the  ad- 


RELIGION   OF    ISRAEL.  143 

vancement  of  Christian  nations  in  enlightenment  V  What  is  the  present 
legal  status  of  the  Jews  ?  What  are  the  reasons  of  their  social  ostracism  V 
Is  their  religion  attractive  to  other  peoples  V 

5.  In  later  times  what  opinion  concerning  the  Messiah  sprang  up  V  Could 
the  Jews  easily  attempt  to  establish  a  nationality  V  Can  you  relate  the  epi- 
sode of  Shabbathai  Zwi?  For  what  do  the  Orthodox  Jews  still  look? 


LESSON    XXIX. 

THE    REFORM. 

1.  Intellectual  Isolation  of  the  Jews, — The  main  reason 
why  the  Jews  in   Europe  remained  devoted  to  their  religious 
traditions  was  their  ignorance  of  the  advancing  culture  of  the 
world.     In  Spain,  it  is  true,  where  they  were  liberally  treated  by 
the  Moslems,  they  had  learned  something  of  Greek  philosophy 
through  Arabic  translations.     But  in  the  succeeding  centuries, 
under   bigoted   Christian   governments,  they  were   cut  off   by 
Christian    prejudice   from   intercourse  with   the  new  world  of 
thought.     They  were  condemned  to  live  in  separate  quarters  in 
cities  (like  the  Ghetto  in   Rome)  ;  they  were  denied  access  to 
the  universities;  they  were  treated  in  all  respects  as  unclean, 
and  it  was  thought  a  great  kindness  that  they  were  barely  toler- 
ated.     Thus  they  were   shut  up  within  themselves,   and   the 
breath  of  modern  thought  did  not  blow  upon  them. 

2.  Progress.  —  But  the   condition  of  things   gradually  im- 
proved.    This  separation  between  man  and  man,  the  result  of 
barbarous  ignorance  and  prejudice,  could  not  exist  in  the  face 
of  growing  enlightenment.     Here  and  there  were  Israelites  who 
came  under  the  influence  of  wider  spheres  of  thought,  and  broke 
through  the  trammels  of   their   national  tradition.      Some  of 
these  became   Christians,  some  rejected  both  Christianity  and 
Judaism,   and   many,   no    doubt,  remaining   in   the   Israelitish 
community,  became  centres  of  more  liberal  thought  in  small 
circles.  The  eighteenth  century  brought  with  it  an 


144  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE 

upheaval  of  old  social,  political,  and  religious  ideas.  In  France 
this  movement  culminated  in  the  Revolution,  but  it  made  itself 
felt  all  over  Europe,  and  the  Jews  reaped  benefit  from  it,  espe- 
cially in  Prussia.  Germany  was  destined  to  be  the  cradle  of  the 
Jewish  emancipation,  as  it  had  been  of  the  Christian  two  and 
a  half  centuries  before.  In  1750  Frederick  the  Great  issued 
his  famous  edict  defining  the  status  of  the  Jews,  and  ordering 
their  life.  The  effect  of  this  decree  was  to  bring  the  long-ban- 
ished people  back  into  relation  with  their  fellows,  and  to  subject 
them  to  the  influence  of  the  broader  Christian  thought.  The 
result  began  to  be  seen  immediately.  Some  of  the  Jews  availed 
themselves  of  their  new  opportunities.  Then  naturally  two 
parties  arose,  one  favoring  the  adoption  of  new  ideas,  the  other 
devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  the  old  (and  this  was  not  the 
first  time  that  such  a  state  of  things  had  existed  in  Israel).  The 
party  of  progress  increased  slowly,  but  it  lacked  a  leader.  This 
lack  was  shortly  supplied  by  the  appearance  of  the  remarkable 
man  of  whom  we  must  now  say  a  word. 

3.  Moses  Mendelssohn.  —  The  third  Moses  was  destined  to 
exert  a  hardly  less  controlling  influence  over  his  countrymen  than 
his  two  great  predecessors  (see  Lesson  XXVII.  4).  He  appeared 
at  the  critical  time  when  the  Jews  needed  a  directing  mind  to 
bring  their  national  feeling  and  thought  into  harmony  with  the 
scientific  and  philosophical  culture  of  the  new  Europe.  To  this 
work  he  devoted  his  whole  life  with  rare  single-mindedness, 
simplicity,  and  soundness  of  judgment.  He  was  twenty-one 
years  old  when  Frederick's  edict  was  issued,  and  he  lived  up  to 
the  verge  of  the  French  Revolution  (died,  1786) ;  he  was  thus  in 
the  centre  of  the  great  German  and  European  movement  of 
enlightenment.  He  had  been  introduced,  almost  by  accident,  to 
the  modern  broader  thought,  of  which  he  became  an  expounder 
to  his  countrymen.  He  worked  his  way  into  sympathy  with  the 
best  and  most  active  minds  of  the  time;  he  was  the  friend  of 
Lessing  and  Lavater.  At  the  same  time  he  remained  an  Israelite. 
His  national  feeling  was  strong;  what  he  tried  to  do  was  to  show 
his  people  that  they  might  remain  true  Israelites,  and  yet  accept 
what  was  valuable  in  the  philosophical  and  religious  thought  of 


RELIGION   OF   ISRAEL.  145 

the  time.  He  was  not  radical  in  feeling  or  action,  but  rather 
made  it  his  aim  to  build  on  the  existing  foundation  of  Jewish 
thought.  In  order  to  provide  biblical  reading  for  his  children 
he  began  a  German  translation  of  the  Old  Testament,  with 
notes;  and  this  translation,  in  which  the  utterances  of  the 
ancient  inspired  men  of  Israel  were  treated  as  fresh,  living 
truth,  and  disengaged  from  the  rabbinical  mummy-cloths,  proved 
of  inestimable  advantage  to  the  people,  by  bringing  them  into 
contact  with  simple,  earnest  religious  truth  and  life.  It  was  in 
this  way  that  he  led  them  into  a  new  path,  and  became  the 
founder  of  the  Reform.  He  was  bitterly  opposed  by  a  portion 
of  the  rabbinical  party,  but  he  kept  on  his  way  undisturbed. 
He  sowed  seeds  that  were  to  bring  forth  fruit  beyond  what  he 
himself  thought  of. 

4.  Progress  since  Mendelssohn.  —  The  impulse  given  by 
Mendelssohn  produced  various  tendencies  in  Jewish  thought  and 
effort,  and  gave  rise  to  various  problems.     He  himself,  though 
opposed  by  some  of  the  rabbis,  had,  through  his  conservatism, 
maintained  friendly  relations  with  the  rabbinical  party  in  gen- 
eral, and  some  of  his  friends  and  followers  continued  to  pursue 
this  course.     Others  were  more  inclined  to  break  with  rabbinism, 
and  throw  off  everything  distinctively  Jewish.      Others,  again, 
attempted,  but  unsuccessfully,   a  union  with   the   Christians. 
These  different  tendencies  have  continued  to  exist  up  to  the 
present  day.     At  the  same  time  measures  were  taken  to  organ- 
ize more  perfectly  the  religious  government  by  means  of  councils 
and  rabbinical  officers,  and  to  simplify  the  services  of  the  syna- 
gogue.    These  various  lines  of  progress  were  carried  on  not 
only  in   Prussia,  but  also  in   France,  Holland,  and  England. 
Everywhere  there  was  movement;  men  were  inqiiiring  into  the 
reasons  of  things,  and  trying  to  improve  them.     The  result  was 
a  general  progress  in  freedom  of  thought,  great  increase  of  sci- 
entific work,  and  marked  simplification  of  the  religious  creed. 

5.  The  Present  Condition  of  the  Reform.  —  The  Reform 
to-day  includes  a  majority  of  the  Jews  of  Europe  and  America. 
These  reject  the  authority  of  the  tradition,  and  have  thrown  off 

10 


146  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 

many  of  the  old  religious  rites  and  customs,  retaining,  however, 
circumcision.  Their  religion  has  assumed  the  general  form  of 
simple  theism,  but  with  many  varieties  of  creed.  Their  public 
worship  approaches  in  form  and  spirit  that  of  the  Christians. 
Their  attitude  towards  Christianity  is  friendly;  they  revere 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  a  great  ethical  and  religious  reformer. 
They  enter  warmly  into  the  spirit  of  modern  life,  and  are  dis- 
tinguished in  most  departments  of  scientific  research.  The 
social  barriers  which  have  hitherto  separated  them  from  the 
Gentiles  are  slowly  disappearing.  But  in  proportion  as  they 
move  in  this  direction,  they  lose  their  distinctively  Jewish  char- 
acter. Their  God  is  not  the  Yah  we  of  the  prophets,  but  the 
God  of  reason.  Their  national  development  is  merged  in  the 
general  current  of  the  world's  thought. 

6.  The  Orthodox.  —  A  respectable  number  of  Jews  still  hold 
to  the  Talmud  and  the  traditional  law.  These  constitute  the 
Rabbinical  or  Orthodox  party.  They  are  most  numerous  in 
Austria,  but  are  found  all  over  the  world.  They  cannot  be  said, 
however,  to  reproduce  exactly  the  traditionalists  of  the  early 
centuries;  except  in  some  remote  corners  of  Europe  and  Asia, 
they  too  have  been  touched  by  the  modern  spirit.  The  differ- 
ences between  them  and  the  Reformed  may  be  studied  in  the 
synagogues  which  are  found  in  all  our  cities. 

LITERATURE. 

1.  On  the  history  of  the  Reform  movement:  the  works  of 
Jost  and  Herzfeld  above  mentioned;  Barclay,  "  The  Talmud;  " 
Felix  Adler,  "Reformed  Judaism,"  North  American  Review, 
vol.  125;  Dr.  Gottheil,  "  The  Position  of  the  Jews  in  America," 
North  American  Review,  vols.  126,  127. 

2.  On  the  writings  of  Mendelssohn  and  others:  Etheridge's 
Introduction. 

3.  On    the   social    and   religious   life   of   the   Jews:    J.    F. 
Schroder,    "  Satzungen    und    Gebrauche    des     Judenthums," 
Bremen,  1851. 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  147 


QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  did  the  European  Jews  remain   devoted  to  their  tradition? 
What  was  the  reason  of  their  ignorance?     What  was  their  condition? 

2.  What  improvement  gradually  came  to  pass?     What  happened  to  in- 
dividual Israelites  ?     What  did  the  eighteenth  century  bring  with  it  ?     Was 
this  movement  felt  all  ever  Europe  ?   What  country  became  the  cradle  of  Jew- 
ish emancipation  ?    What  edict  was  issued  by  Frederick  the  Great  ?    When  ? 
What  was  its  effect  ?     What  two  parties  arose  ?     What  was  lacking  ? 
Was  the  lack  soon  supplied  ? 

3.  At  what  critical  time  did  Moses  Mendelssohn  appear  ?    To  what  did 
he  devote  his  life  ?    At  what  time  did  he  live  ?     Of  what  did  he  become  an 
expounder  to  his  countrymen  ?    Did  he  remain  an  Israelite?     What  did  he 
try  to  do  ?     Was  his  course  radical  ?    What  translation  did  he  undertake  ? 
What  was  its  effect  ?     With  what  did  he  bring  his  people  into  contact  ? 

4.  What  was  the  result  of  the  impulse  given  by  Mendelssohn  ?    What 
different  directions  did  his  followers  take  ?     What  other  measures  were  set 
on  foot  ?     Where  ?    What  was  the  result  of  all  this  ? 

5.  What  does  the  Reform  now  include  ?    What  do  they  reject?     What 
form  has  their  religion  assumed?    What  of  their  public  worship?  —  their 
attitude  towards  Christianity  ?  —  their  relation  to  modern  life  ?  —  their  social 
position  ?    What  effect  does  this  have  on  their  distinctively  Jewish  charac- 
ter ?    What  of  their  national  development? 

6.  Who  constitute  the  Orthodox  party?     What  other  name  may  be 
given  them  ?    Where  are  they  found  ?    Have  they  been  affected  by  mod- 
ern progress  ? 


LESSON    XXX. 

CONCLUSION. 

1.  The  Persistence  of  the  Religion  of  Israel.  —  The  his- 
tory of  the  religion  of  Israel,  which  we  have  rapidly  gone  over, 
exhibits  its  remarkable  tenacity  of  life.  It  has  survived  all  the 
changes  in  the  outward  and  inward  condition  of  the  people, 
and  is  to-day,  four  thousand  years  after  the  Hebrews  entered 
Canaan,  professed,  revered,  and  followed  by  multitudes  of  their 
descendants.  No  other  religion  in  the  world  has  enjoyed  so 


148  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

long  a  recorded  life.  This  persistency  is  to  be  ascribed,  in  part, 
to  its  elevated  conceptions  of  God  and  man,  which  gave  it  the 
advantage  over  its  rivals ;  but  in  part,  also,  to  the  vigor  of  the 
Jewish  race,  which  has  maintained  the  separate  existence  of 
the  people  for  so  many  centuries  in  the  midst  of  strangers. 
These  are  the  human  agencies  that  God  has  employed  to  pre- 
serve this  religion  which  has  been  so  powerful  a  factor  in  the 
history  of  the  human  race. 

2.  Its  Character  and  Growth.  —  The  facts  that  have  come 
to  our  knowledge  make  it  probable  that  all  the  ancient  or 
national  religions  originated  in  the  same  way,  and  grew  accord- 
ing to  the  same  laws.  The  differences  between  them  are  the 
differences  between  the  peoples  to  whom  they  belonged.  Up  to 
a  certain  point  in  their  development  they  are  all  alike,  and  then 
they  begin  to  show  their  local  peculiarities.  Of  the  earliest 
stage  in  the  growth  of  Israel's  religion,  the  fetishistic,  we  know 
almost  nothing;  when  we  first  find  them  in  Canaan,  they  are 
polytheists,  like  their  neighbors,  that  is,  they  had  separated  the 
Deity  from  the  objects  of  nature,  and  regarded  these  last  as 
symbols  of  the  Godhead.  Thus  much  of  their  religious  career 
belongs  to  the  general  history  of  ancient  religions.  We  are 
more  interested  in  the  succeeding  development,  which  may  be 
dated  from  the  time  of  Samuel.  In  this  we  may  note  the  two 
following  stages:  1.  There  was  the  period  of  conflict  between 
polytheism  and  monotheism,  extending  from  Samuel  to  the 
Exile.  It  is  described  in  the  Old  Testament  as  a  struggle 
between  Yahwe  and  the  other  gods.  In  this  conflict  there  were 
two  elements:  the  religious,  that  is,  the  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  there  was  no  god  but  Yahwe,  and  the  ethical,  that  is,  the 
recognition  of  God's  perfect  holiness  and.  his  requirement  of 
holiness  from  his  servants.  These  two  went  hand  in  hand. 
Just  this  process  went  on  in  other  nations,  only  it  stopped  at  a 
certain  point.  Israel  is  distinguished  from  other  ancient  peoples 
by  the  fact  that  it  pressed  on  till  it  reached  the  conception  of 
the  one  holy  God.  We  cannot  tell  exactly  how  it  attained  to 
this  truth.  We  can  see  the  general  character  of  the  historical 
progress :  the  basis  was  Israel's  intense  sentiment  of  nationality, 


RELIGION    OF   ISRAEL.  149 

and  its  deep-seated  conviction  that  Yahwe,  as  its  God,  was 
above  the  other  gods;  from  this,  the  deeper  religious  thinkers, 
seeing  how  all  nations  were  bound  together,  were  led  to  assert 
Yahwe's  kingship  over  all  the  world,  and  then  there  was  no 
need  of  any  other  god;  at  the  same  time,  the  highest  ethical 
conceptions  of  the  best  men  were  identified  with  the  Deity,  as 
was  the  case  in  other  nations  also,  only  with  greater  precision 
and  completeness  in  Israel;  the  prophets  declared  that  Yahwe 
punished  the  sins  of  his  own  people  as  well  as  of  other  nations ; 
finally,  the  Exile  sifted  Israel,  and  placed  the  religious  develop- 
ment in  the  hands  of  the  most  advanced  religious  thinkers; 
the  more  superficial  element  was  set  aside,  and  the  new  nation 
was  monotheistic.  2.  There  was  the  period  of  religious  law, 
that  is,  the  effort  to  order  man's  life  in  accordance  with  the  will 
of  God.  Having  reached  the  idea  of  a  holy  God,  the  next  aim 
of  Israel  was  to  secure  holiness  of  life.  This  they  tried  to  secure 
by  fixed  rules,  which  they  kept  on  increasing  till  these  became 
burdensome  and  injurious.  It  was  a  noble  attempt  at  the  per- 
fecting of  life,  but  it  was  not  successful.  It  established  the 
idea  of  man's  obligation  to  be  holy,  but  it  failed  to  show  him 
the  way.  It  was  at  this  point  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  came 
forward,  and  taught  that  holiness  was  reached,  not  by  rules,  but 
by  the  inward  disposition  of  love  to  God.  But  Israel  was  too 
firmly  convinced  of  the  Tightness  of  its  own  method  to  listen  to 
him.  It  continued,  and  has  continued  to  this  day,  to  make  law 
its  life,  only  demonstrating  more  and  more  fully  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  any  set  of  rules  for  the  perfecting  pf  man's  life.  The 
mission  of  the  religion  of  Israel  was  finished  when  the  higher 
teaching  of  Jesus  came.  Its  existence  since  that  time  has  been 
only  the  semblance  of  life;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Jews  have 
had  to  abandon  it  just  in  proportion  as  they  have  come  under 
the  influence  of  modern  thought. 

3.  Its  Legacy  to  us.  —  It  is  worth  while  for  us  to  remember 
how  closely  our  religious  life  is  connected  with  that  of  Israel. 
The  Bible  is  our  store-house  of  religious  thought  and  feeling, 
and  the  Bible,  Old  Testament  and  New  Testament,  is  Israelit- 
ish.  In  the  prophets  and  psalmists  we  have  the  record  of  the 


150      THE    HISTORY    OF   THE   RELIGION    OP   ISRAEL. 

national  religious  life  of  the  ancient  Israel ;  in  the  evangelists 
and  apostles  we  have  the  later  Jewish  ideas  transformed  by 
faith  in  Jesus  as  the  Christ  of  God.  Our  fundamental  religious 
ideas,  God,  sin,  redemption,  are  of  Israel.  These,  together  with 
the  belief  in  the  future  life  (which,  though  not  prominent  in 
the  Old  Testament,  was  part  of  the  faith  of  the  later  Judaism), 
Christianity  inherited  from  the  religion  of  Israel.  To  trace  our 
religious  pedigree,  therefore,  we  have  to  go  back  to  the  prophets 
and  the  Law.  We  have  seen  how  a  pure  monotheistic  basis  for 
religion  was  reached  in  ancient  Israel.  Along  with  this  grew 
the  conception  of  sin,  first  as  an  offence  against  the  sovereignty 
of  the  divine  king  of  Israel,  and  then  as  an  offence  against  his 
law ;  out  of  which  came  the  deeper  conception  of  it  as  a  viola- 
tion of  man's  conscience,  regarded  as  the  image  and  expounder 
of  the  perfect  holiness  of  God.  Israel  held  sin  to  involve 
accountability  to  God,  but  it  did  not  leave  the  sinner  hopeless, 
—  it  trusted  in  the  mercy  of  God,  which  provided  redemption 
and  salvation  for  his  servants  who  repent  and  turn  to  him. 
Christianity  may  be  called  the  development  of  the  pure  spiritual 
elements  of  the  faith  of  Israel.  The  latter  is  not  dead,  but 
lives  in  the  faith  of  the  Christian  world. 

LITERATURE. 

On  the  history  of  doctrine:  Schultz,  "  Alttestamentliche 
Theologie,"  Frankfurt  a.  Main,  1878;  Oehler,  " Theology  of 
the  Old  Testament ' '  (English  translation) . 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  to  be  said  of  the  persistence  of  the  religion  of  Israel?    How 
is  it  to  be  explained  ? 

2.  What  is  true  of  the  early  stages  of  all  national  religions?     When 
does  the  religious  career  of  Israel  become  interesting?     What  two  periods 
may  be  noted?     Can  you  describe  the  period  of  conflict?  —  the   period 
of  law  ? 

3.  What  book  have  we  received  from  Israel?     What  fundamental  relig- 
ious ideas?     What  was   Israel's  conception  of  sin  and  redemption?    In 
what  does  the  faith  of  Israel  still  live  ? 


INDEX. 


Aaron,  20,  30.  ' 

Abarbanel,  135. 

Aben  Ezra,  135. 

Abimelech,  30. 

Abraham,  15,  16. 

Adar,  month,  95. 

Adiabene,  139. 

Aelia,  city,  139. 

Ahab,  43,  44,  47. 

Ahasuerus,  95. 

Ahaz,  56,  58,  62. 

Ahijah,  the  prophet,  42. 

Akiba,  rabbi,  140. 

Alexander  Jannaeus,  101,  123. 

Alexander  the  Great,  86,  94. 

Alexandria,  90, 105,  111,  136. 

Allegory,  106. 

Alliances,  foreign,  61. 

Amalekites,  10,  34. 

Ammonites,  10,  37,  54,  69,  71,  75. 

Amon,  king,  66. 

Angels,  86,  109,  110. 

Antipater,  101,  123. 

Aphorisms,  104. 

Apocalypse,  108. 

Apocrypha,  the,  116. 

Apologues,  religious,  95. 

Apothegms,  96. 

Aquila,  Greek  version  of,  134. 

Arabs,  9,  69. 

Aramaeans,  9. 

Aramaic  language,  126,  133. 

Aristobulus,  king,  101,  123. 

Aristotle,  136. 

Ark.  the,  21,  30,  32,  37,  38. 

Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  86,  90. 

Ashe,  rabbi,  130. 

Asher,  the  deity,  12. 

Ashera,  the  goddess,  44,  45,  59,  66. 

Ashtaroth,  the,  47. 

Ashtoreth,  66. 

Asiatic  nations,  sacred  books  of,  113. 

Assyrian  monuments,  40. 


Assyrians,  9,  43,  49,  50,  53,  55,  56,  57,  58, 

64,  69. 

Athaliah,  45,  49,  50. 
Avilmarduk  (Evil-Merodach),  king,  70. 
Baal,  43,  44,  47,  66,  100. 
Baasha,  king,  43. 
Babylon,  40,  58,  81,  82,  84,  103. 
Babylonia,  86 

Babylonians,  61,  69,  70,  76,  79,  80,  81, 109. 
Bar-cochba,  139. 
Baruch,72. 
Baruch,  book  of,  111. 
Baths,  public,  124. 
Bedawin,  14. 
Beersheba,  50. 
Bethel,  43,  54. 
Bethlehem,  36. 
Bigotry,  Christian,  141. 
Blessings  and  curses,  67. 
Book,  people  of  the,  90. 
Books,  Greek  order  of,  116. 
Books,  Hebrew  order  of,  116. 
Books,  lost,  114. 

Books,  sacred,  90,  99, 114,  118,  120. 
Cassar,  101,  123. 
Calendar,  Jewish,  122. 
Canaanites,  9,  10,  28. 
Canon,  the,  105. 
Canon,  the  first,  114. 
Canon,  the  second,  115. 
Canon,  the  third,  116. 
Canon,  discussions  of  the,  116. 
Captives  in  Babylon,  79,  84. 
Captivity,  Assyrian,  57,  74. 
Captivity,  head  of  the,  140. 
Caucasian  race,  9. 
Chaldeans,  69,  70,  71,  81,  111. 
Chants,  Gregorian,  104. 
Chemosbu  23,  66. 
Christ,  the,  62,  64,  70,  72,  75,  77,  82,  87, 

89,  106.  110,  114, 122,  123,  124,  126, 

131,  134,  138,  146.  149,  150. 
Church,  76,  85,  95,  119. 


152 


INDEX. 


Circumcision,  16. 

Claudius,  emperor,  139. 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  111. 

Code,  religious,  20,  25,  52,  67,  76,  80. 

Code,  ritual,  119,  120. 

Commerce,  Hebrew,  38. 

Conflict,  period  of  religious,  148. 

Council  (Sanhedrin),  121. 

Covenant,  the  new,  114. 

Covenant,  the  old,  114. 

Crassus,  123. 

Creation,  story  of,  91. 

Cyprus,  139. 

Gyrene,  139. 

Cyrus,  40,  75,  81,  84. 

Dagon,  24. 

Damascus,  58. 

Dan,  city,  43,  54. 

Darius  Hystaspis,  85. 

David  as  poet,  38,  104. 

David  Kirnchi,  135. 

Davidic  king,  prosperity  under,  63,  80. 

Deborah,  29. 

Decalogue,  two  versions  of,  25. 

Dedication,  feast  of,  100. 

Deities,  foreign,  24,  30,  33,  39,  44,  45,  47, 

55,  59,  65,  66. 

Deuteronomy,  book  of,  19,  67,  91. 
Domesday-book,  the  Israelitish,  28. 
Ecclesiastes,  106. 
Ecclesiasticus,  1051 
Edomites,  10,  37,  54,  77,  80, 101. 
Egypt.  14,  72,  84,  86,  99. 
Egyptians,  13,  45,  58,  64,  70. 
Eighth  century  B.C.,  the,  51. 
Elders  of  tribes,  10. 
Elegy  on  Paul  and  Jonathan,  33. 
Elias  Levita,  135. 
Elihu,97. 

Elohim-narrative,  92. 
Elyon,  12. 

Embassy  to  Rome,  Jewish,  101. 
Ephod,  3Q. 

Ephraim,  tribe  of,  27,  29,  42. 
Essenes,  the,  101. 
Esther,  additions  to,  95. 
Ethiopian,  58. 
Eusebius,  111. 
Exodus,  book  of,  19,  91. 
Exodus,  date  of  the.  18. 
Exodus,  origin  of,  91. 
Ezekiel,  tragic  poet,  111. 
Ezra,  86,  87,  90,  93,  114,  115,  121. 


Ezra,  third  book  of,  111. 

Fasts,  85. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  141. 

Festivals,  21,  90. 

Fetishism,  11,  148. 

Flood,  narrative  of  the,  92. 

Foreigners  in  Palestine,  86. 

Fortune-tellers,  33. 

Frederick  the  Great,  edict  of,  144. 

Future  life  (Egyptian),  21. 

Future  life  (Hebrew),  21, 96, 105,  106, 150, 

Gad,  deity,  12. 

Galilee,  125,  126. 

Gamaliel,  121. 

Games,  Greek,  100. 

Gath,  37. 

Gemara,  language  of  the,  130. 

Genesis  i.-xi.,  77. 

Genesis,  origin  of,  91. 

Genesis-stories,  15. 

Gerizim,  mount,  86,  101. 

Ghetto,  the,  143. 

Gideon,  30. 

God.  kingdom  of,  109. 

Goliath,  36,  104. 

Greek  language,  86,  126. 

Greeks,  9,  61,  86,  109. 

Gymnasiums,  100. 

Hadrian,  emperor,  139. 

Hagga^la,  131. 

Hagiographa,  the,  116. 

Ilagiographa,  targums  of,  134. 

Halacha,  131. 

Hamites,  9. 

Hasidim,  the,  100. 

Hebrew,  study  of,  135, 137. 

Hebrews,  origin  of,  10. 

Helena,  queen,  139. 

Heliopolis,  86. 

Hellenizers,  100. 

Hercules,  30. 

Herod  the  Great,  101,  123. 

Herodians,  the,  124. 

Hexateuch,  the,  115. 

Hezekiah,  annals  of,  62. 

Hezekiah,  king,  58,  104. 

Hieroglyphic  writing,  14. 

Hiarh  places,  50. 

High  priest,  32, 121, 125. 

Hilkiah,  priest,  68. 

HiMel,  121,  128. 

Hillel,  saying  of,  121. 

Histories",  52. 


INDEX. 


153 


Hittites,  28. 

Hoshea,  king,  57. 

Host  of  heaven,  11,  66. 

Idolatry,  11,  23,  24,  30,  39,  43,  45,  47,  50, 

54,  59,  63,  65,  66,  72,  75,  76,  82,  84, 

110. 

Idumeans,  101 
Indo-Europeans,  9. 
Isaiah,  disciples  of,  66. 
Isaiah  x).-lxvi.,  81,  116. 
Isaiah  liii  ,  76,  82. 
Islam,  139. 
Itinerary,  the,  27. 
Izates,  king,  139. 
Jacob,  15,  54. 
Jael,29. 
Jamnia,  129. 
Jehoahaz,  king,  70. 
Jehoiachin,  70,  75,  79. 
Jehoiada,  49 

Jehoiakim,  king,  70,  72,  75. 
jehoshaphat,  45. 
Jehuda,  rabbi,  129. 
Jephthah,  30. 
Jeremiah,  epistle  of,  111. 
Jeroboam  II.,  49,  95. 
Jerusalem,  capture  of,  125. 
Jerusalem,  centre  of  worship,  65. 
Jerusalem,  destruction  of,  125, 129. 
Jesus,  father  of  Sirach,  105. 
Jesus,  son  of  Sirach,  105. 
Jethro,  19. 

Jews,  the  orthodox,  142. 
Jews,  ostracism  of,  141,  143. 
Jews  in  Arabia,  139. 
Jews  in  Austria,  146. 
Jews  in  Babylonia,  79,  90,  93, 115, 126. 
Jews  in  Egypt,  86 
Jews  in  England,  145. 
Jews  in  France,  145. 
Jews  in  Holland,  145. 
Jews  in  Prussia,  144, 145. 
Jews  in  Russia,  136. 
Jezebel,  44. 
Jezreel.  49. 
Joab,  37. 

John  Hyrcanus  I. ,  101. 
John  Hyrcanus  II.,  101, 123. 
Jonathan,  son  of  S.iul,  38. 
Jonathan,  targum  of,  134 
Jonathan,  the  Hasmonean,  100. 
Joseph,  15. 
Josephus,  Flavius,  101, 125, 132. 


Josiah,  king,  68,  70,  71,  111. 
Judah,  tribe  of,  27,  29,  37,  42. 
Judaism,  89,  127, 128. 
Judas  Maccabaeus,  100,  111. 
Jude,  book  of,  110. 
Judeans,  79,  99. 
Judith,  book  of,  112. 
Jupiter,  altar  of,  99. 
Kebar,  canal,  79. 
Ketubim,  the,  116. 
Koran,  the,  114. 
Kushite,  58. 
Law  books,  52,  67,  91. 
Law,  students  of,  119. 
Law,  period  of  religious,  149. 
Laws,  ceremonial,  91. 
Laws,  codification  of,  122. 
Laws  of  early  tribes,  10,  11. 
Lawyers,  115, 120. 
Legalists,  95. 
Letters,  Phoenician,  126. 
Leontopolis,  86. 
Levites,  30,  44,  84,  91, 104. 
Leviticus,  book  of,  19,  59,  91. 
Leviticus,  origin  of,  91. 
Locusts,  plague  of,  87. 
Luther,  65,  SO,  135. 
Maccabees,  the,  84. 
Maccabees,  first  book  of,  111. 
Maccabees,  second  book  of,  111, 
Maimonides,  135. 
Magic,  66. 
Man,  Son  of,  110. 
Manasseh,  king,  66,  68. 
Manhood,  religious,  75. 
Manuscript?,  119, 120,  135. 
Mardochaeus,  95. 
Mariamne,  124. 
Mashal,  39. 
Mattathias,  100. 
Medes,  69,  81,  84,  109. 
Megiddo,  battle  of,  70. 
Mendelssohn,  Moses,  136. 
Mendelfsohn,  translation  of  Old  Testa- 
ment, 145. 

Menephtah,  king,  17. 
Mesopotamia,  9,  79. 
Messiah,  ben -Joseph,  141. 
Messiah,  the,  61,  110,  127, 139. 
Micaiah,  the  prophet,  53. 
Midrash,  the,  131. 
Milcom,  66. 
Miriam,  20. 


154 


INDEX. 


Mishna,  language  of  the,  130. 

Mishna,  orders  of  the,  129. 

Moabites,  10,  37,  54,  69,  71,  73,  75. 

Modin,  city,  100. 

Monotheism,  24,  25,  37,  55,  75,  76,  119, 

148. 

Moon,  worship  of  the,  11,  66. 
Mordecai,  95. 
Moriah,  mount,  39. 
Moslems,  the,  58,  135,  136,  140,  141. 
Most  High,  saints  of  the,  110. 
Music,  33,  94,  103,  104. 
Nadab,  king,  43. 
Names,  plays  on,  62. 
Nasi  (prince),  140. 

Nebuchadnezzar,  57,  70,  74, 109, 130. 
Necromancers,  34. 
Nehemiah,  86,  115. 
Nehushtan,  59. 
Nero,  139. 

Nineveh,  71,  95,  112, 139. 
Numbers,  book  of,  19,  91. 
Offerings,  67,  71,  76. 
Onias,  high-priest,  111. 
Onkelos,  targum  of,  133. 
Party,  national,  100, 101. 
Patriarchate,  Babylonian,  141. 
Patriarchs,  the,  52. 
Paul,  the  apostle,  54,  71, 121. 
Pekah,  king,  56. 
Pentateuch,  date  of,  91. 
Pentateuch,  division  of,  115 
Pentateuch,  meaning  of,  90. 
Pentateuch,  Samaritan,  86. 
Pentateuch,  targums  on,  134. 
Period,  scribal,  119. 
Period,  Greek,  105. 
Persians,  9,  61,  81,  84,  85,  86,  87, 109. 
Pharisees,  the,  101,  120,  125. 
Philistines,  10,  32,  58,  69,  71,  75. 
Philo,  132. 

Philosophy,  52,  96,  104,  106,  111. 
Phocylides,  111. 
Phoenicians,  9,  37,  54. 
Pilate,  Pontius,  124. 
Pirke  Aboth,  130. 
Poems,  52. 
Pompey,  101,  123. 
Preachers,  60. 
Priests,  list  of,  94. 
Priests,  power  of,  89. 
Priestly  period,  83. 
Princes  of  Judah,  72 


Prophecy,  periods  of,  61. 

Prophetic  discourses,  53. 

Prophetesses,  110. 

Prophets,  former,  115. 

Prophets,  latter,  115. 

Prophets,  number  of,  52.  • 

Prophets,  order  of,  33. 

Proverbs,  38,  96. 

Psalm  on  Goliath,  104. 

Psalms,  five  books  of,  104. 

Psalms,  titles  of,  104. 

Psalter  of  Solomon,  104. 

Purim,  feas.t  of,  95. 

Rabbis,  122,  128. 

Rameses  II.,  17. 

Rameses,  city.  16. 

Ramoth  Gilead,  49. 

Rashi,  135. 

Rechabites,  the,  48. 

Redemption,  150. 

Reform,  ancient,  48,  59,  65,  68,  89, 90, 121. 

Religion,  the  Greek,  99, 138. 

Religion,  the  Roman,  138. 

Responsibility,  personal,  80. 

Restoration,  the,  93,  94. 

Resurrection,  87, 110. 

Revelation,  108. 

Revolution,  French,  144. 

Romances,  historical,  112. 

Romans,  the,  9,  61,  99,  121,  123.  124,  125, 

139. 

Ruth,  book  of,  77. 
Sabak(So),  king,  57- 
Sabbath,  the,  21,  90, 120. 
Sacrifice,  human,  25,  31,  59,  66. 
Sacrifices,  12,  67,  71,  76,  81,  89. 
Sadducees,  the,  101. 
Sages,  38,  52,  67,  96,  97,  104,  106. 
Samaria,  city,  43. 
Samaria,  province,  57. 
Samaritans,  57,  86, 117. 
Samson,  30. 

Sanctuary  at  Dan ,  30,  43. 
Sanhedrin,  the,  116. 
Sargon,  king,  57. 
Sassanide  kingdom,  140. 
Satan,  97. 

Schools  of  prophecy,  53. 
Schools,  Rabbinical,  129. 
Seers,  33, 109. 
Seir,  nation,  80. 
Sennacherib,  king,  58,  63. 
Septuagint,  72,  86,  95, 115,  134. 


INDEX. 


155 


Ser.nons,  53 

Serpent,  bronze,  59. 

Seventy  years,  the,  75. 

Shabbathai  Zwi.  141. 

Shaddai,12, 16,' 24. 

Shalmaiieser  IV.,  49,  57. 

Shammai,  121. 

Sheol,  54,  55,  106. 

Shiioh,  32,  33. 

Shows,  theatrical,  124. 

Shrines,  local,  59,  65,  67. 

Simeon,  tribe  of,  42. 

HIKOO,  the  Hasmonean,  100. 

Sinai,  20,  27. 

Sirboniaii  lake,  the,  27. 

Sohar,  the,  136. 

Spinoza,  Benedict,  136. 

Spontaneousness,  prophetic,  114. 

Stars,  worship  of,  11,  66. 

Study,  legal,  90. 

Sunierian-Accadians,  22. 

Sun,  worship  of,  11,  66. 

Swine's  flesh,  99. 

Synagogue,  the  Great.  121. 

Synagogues,  87,  120, 146. 

Syria,  86,  99. 

Syria,  Greek  kingdom  of,  99,  100,  109. 

Syriac  language,  126. 

Syrians,  9,  43,  49,  53,  56,  100. 

Tabernacle,  the,  39. 

Tabernacles,  feast  of,  43. 

Talmud,  126,  128 

Targums,  the,  133. 

Taxes,  42. 

Tekoa,  53. 

Tel -A  bib,  79. 

Temple  of  Herod,  the,  124. 

Temple,  ritual  of,  94 

Temple,  the  second,  F5,  94. 

Ten  tribes,  the,  42,  58,  74. 

Teraphim,  24. 

Testament,  the  New,  37,  72,  110,  114, 126, 

131. 

Testament,  the  Old.  114,  128. 
Text,  Masoretic,  134. 


The  Law  and  the  Prophets,  116. 

Tiberias,  129. 

Tiglathpileser  II  ,  56. 

Tirhakah,  king,  58. 

Titus,  125. 

Tobit,  book  of,  112. 

Tora,  26,  90,  115,  128, 132. 

Trade  by  barter,  11. 

Traditions.  52,  91, 121, 122, 145. 

Trajan,  139. 

Tribe  princes,  28. 

Universities,    Jews    excluded    from    the, 

143. 

Urijah,  priest,  59. 
Urim  and  Thummim,  21. 
Uzziah,  50. 
Visions,  85, 109,  111. 
Vowel-signs,  134. 
Well-song,  52. 
Wisdom  personified,  105. 
Wives,  foreign,  90. 
Wizards,  34. 
Women,  guild  of,  32. 
Women  in  Temple  choir,  104. 
Words  counted,  134. 
Worship  of  heavenly  bodies,  11 
Writings,  anonymous,  116. 
Writings,  the,  116. 
Xerxes,  95. 
Yahwe-narrative,  92. 
Yahwe  our  Righteousness,  72. 
Yah  we,  pronunciation  of,  23. 
Yah  we,  servant  of,  81. 
Yahwists,  33,  42,  44,  66. 
Yemen,  142. 
Yesira,  136. 
Zachariah,  king.  48. 
Zealots,  the,  125. 
Zcchariah  ix.-xiv.,  116. 
Zedekiah,  king,  70,  72. 
Zedekiah,  prophet,  53. 
•  Zerubbabel,  84. 
Zeus,  altar  of,  99. 
Zion,  37,  62. 
Zoroastrian  religion,  140. 


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